Guinness World Records said to lift ban on Israeli submissions as Jerusalem celebrates ‘largest kidney donation ever’

Guinness World Records has lifted its ban on submissions from Israel and the Palestinian territories and will accept an Israeli record for the largest kidney donation ever, according to Israeli officials.

“2,000 Israeli kidney donors are making the largest donation ever, in a selfless act of solidarity and humanity,” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar writes on X, adding that the contribution “finally receive[s] the celebration it deserves by the Guinness World Records, which revoked their original distorted decision to deny Israeli kidney donors their rightful recognition.”

President Isaac Herzog, who attended a ceremony last night to honor the 2,000 kidney transplants carried out in Israel, says that “the flawed decision to reject the submission to the Guinness Book of World Records, simply because it came from Israel, was reversed, and now it is officially a world record,” in a statement from his office.

Last night’s event was organized by Matnat Chaim (Gift of Life in Hebrew), an organization that facilitates voluntary kidney donations in Israel.

GWR did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation that the ban was lifted or that the Israeli submission was accepted.

Last month, a GWR spokesperson confirmed that the company was not accepting record submissions from Israel, the West Bank or Gaza, citing the current “sensitive” situation amid the war with Hamas. The spokesperson told The Times of Israel that Guinness has had a policy not to accept new record submissions from the region since November 2023, the month after Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7.