Author: Editorial
Publication: International Herald
Tribune, UK
Date: November 8, 2001
"You don't belong to a country club
that excludes blacks or Jews," Bernadine Healy, outgoing president of the
American Red Cross, once said. Her departure is a blow to an organization
that profited greatly from her leadership for two years. It is also a victory
for certain members of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies in Geneva - and apparently certain American Red Cross
board members - who objected to Dr. Healy's strong and principled stance
against the anti-Israeli feelings that have kept Magen David Adorn, Israel's
equivalent of the Red Cross, excluded from full federation membership for
50 years.
The denial of unconditional recognition
to MDA in the worldwide family of national Red Cross societies because
it employs a Red Shield of David as its symbol rather than the Red Cross
or Red Crescent is an abomination. Bernadine Healy thought so, too. At
her request, and with strong bipartisan backing in Congress, the American
Red Cross decided to delay payment of its dues to support the federation
until bigotry gave way to tolerance. Dr. Healy's opposition to the federation's
policies of exclusion and intolerance apparently ran afoul of some American
Red Cross board members and led to pressures that caused her to conclude
that she had no choice but to resign.
There may be other factors that
helped contribute to her abrupt departure. But surely her decision to withhold
American Red Cross dues from an international organization that will not
admit Israel on a full and equal basis is one that the American Red Cross
board should have steadfastly supported. Some members evidently were prepared
to cut and run.
The extent of the federation's willingness
to give in to the worst instincts of some of its member governments, especially
Arab relief agencies, is clear in a letter from Denis McClean, a spokesman
for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
in Geneva. He writes with evident pride that the federation's member governments
"are now preparing to adopt an additional emblem with no religious or national
connotations to stand alongside the Red Cross and the Red Crescent as emblems
universally recognized as providing protection in time of conflict." In
other words, under the proposed deal the Red Cross and Red Crescent symbols
are in, the Red Shield of David is out, and Israel's humanitarian aid society
can join - as long as it hides its face.
The international outrage goes on.
All the more reason, as Dr. Healy courageously maintained, that the American
Red Cross should withhold its dues.
THE WASHINGTON POST
