Guinness World Records confirmed on December 3, 2025, that it has stopped accepting record submissions from Israel, the West Bank, or Gaza since November 2023—one month after the October 7 Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war—citing the "current sensitive climate" and excluding applications "with the exception of those done in cooperation with a UN humanitarian aid relief agency".
The policy was revealed after Israeli charity Matnat Chaim (Gift of Life), which promotes voluntary kidney donations, was denied an application to document a planned January event bringing together 2,000 kidney donors in Jerusalem, with charity president Rachel Heber stating "Israel leads the entire world in this remarkable revolution of mutual responsibility through altruistic kidney donations, and the fact that Guinness refuses to include this Israeli achievement that astonished the entire medical world is unacceptable".
A Guinness World Records spokesperson stated "we truly do believe in record-breaking for everyone, everywhere, but unfortunately, in the current climate, we are not generally processing record applications from the Palestinian Territories or Israel," adding that the policy is subject to monthly review and expressing hope "to be in a position to receive new enquiries soon".
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee condemned the decision, with Huckabee questioning "how can people be so filled with hate and bigotry?" while critics noted Guinness has previously accepted records from countries like North Korea, Syria during Assad's chemical attacks, and Iran during its hijab protest crackdown.
The decision comes amid what observers describe as a widening wave of global boycott of Israel following the Gaza war that began October 8, 2023, which has been internationally described as "genocide" and led to over 70,000 Palestinian deaths and 171,000 injuries according to Gaza health authorities, with the boycott including academic institutions, sports events, and cultural and artistic venues withdrawing cooperation with Israeli entities.
