ANTI-SEMITISM IS AS ANTI-SEMITISM DOES

Israel's 'Red Cross' snubbed for Star of David (DAVE NEWBART, May 8, 2003, Chicago Sun-Times)

When a 9-year-old Palestinian boy needed complex surgery to save his leg from amputation last week, the Palestinian Red Crescent turned to a familiar partner: Magen David Adom, the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross. A Magen David Adom ambulance rushed the boy, who'd fallen from the ninth floor of a building, from Gaza to a Tel Aviv hospital.

Such cooperation, coming even as Israeli and Palestinian leaders continue to struggle to find peace, embodies the spirit of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, which today celebrates World Red Cross Red Crescent Day.

Yet Magen David Adom has long stood outside the mainstream of the International Red Cross, a movement, founded in 1863, that works to alleviate suffering in war-torn areas and to provide aid to victims of natural disasters. For more than half a century, the Israeli organization has been refused full membership in the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, a snub that would seem to fly in the face of two of the group's pillars: neutrality and universality. With 178 members, almost every other nation in the world has been accepted.

The refusal can be traced to Magen David Adom's emblem--a red Star of David--and Arab opposition to Israel.

"The debate about the universality of the movement has become a debate about politics in the Middle East, and that shouldn't have happened,'' said Chris Lamb, the international federation's head of humanitarian advocacy, speaking by phone from the group's headquarters in Geneva.

The only emblems of the movement that are recognized under international law are the cross and the crescent, which were adopted at the Geneva Convention of 1929. Such recognition provides protection on the battlefield for crews, ambulances and buildings decorated with the symbols.

As the world's lone Jewish state, Israel has refused to adopt the cross, a symbol with Christian roots, even though the International Red Cross says it has no religious meaning. Nor will it accept the crescent, a prominent Muslim icon.

Beyond that obstacle is the refusal of Red Crescent groups in Arab countries to approve of Magen David Adom's admission as a full member.

This is despicable and that it's still going on, after receiving attention a couple years ago, is inexplicable. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 8, 2003 12:50 PM