EARLIER this week Israeli television broadcast a short piece of news footage filmed in a local blood bank. First, a native Israeli was shown donating blood. As soon as the bag was filled, it was sealed away in a sterile crate.
Next, an Ethiopian immigrant blood donor came to give his pint. The smiling nurse took the filled bag, smiled her thanks to the donor, then put the bag surreptitiously aside. When the Ethiopian man had left, she wrote on the bag: "Don't use - the donor is an Ethiopian."
That footage confirmed what had been an ugly rumour: the Israeli medical authorities have for years been systematically throwing away blood donated by Ethiopian immigrants without telling them, because Ethiopian Jews are said to have a higher risk of AIDS infection than other Israelis.
Members of Israel's 56,000 strong Ethiopian community, many of whom were airlifted to Israel five years ago to escape the civil war in Addis Ababa, are outraged. Leaders staged a small demonstration at the Health Ministry yesterday and a bigger protest is planned for tomorrow. Mr Adisso Massalah, a spokesman for the community, describes the policy bitterly as "pure racism".
Embarrassed by the revelation, the Health Ministry is, nevertheless, sticking to its guns. The Health Minister, Mr Ephraim Sneh, says statistics show the Ethiopians to be 50 times more likely to be AIDS infected than other Israelis.
He says blood from Ethiopian donors with rare blood types is not dumped but frozen, so that the donor can be re tested for AIDS six months later and, if he or she is clean, the donated blood can then be used.
Dr Amnon Ben David, head of the Israeli blood banks, has issued a retroactive apology" to Ethiopians offended by the policy.
Most of the Ethiopian immigrants who give blood are soldiers who come with their buddies to donate," he said. "We thought that singling out an ethnic group and telling them to go home would be more offensive and embarrassing."
The Health Ministry has produced a partial remedy, but one, that is unlikely to mollify many of the Ethiopians. It is amending the blood donation forms to include an extra advisory note: not all donations, the form will now state, are automatically accepted.