Free Republic

Representatives from 192 countries are due in Geneva on Monday for a conference to decide whether to adopt a new emblem for the Red Cross movement. The two-day meeting is the result of tightrope diplomacy by Switzerland to resolve the long-standing issue of a third humanitarian symbol. The Red Cross, the Red Crescent and the new Red Crystal (Keystone)Approval of the so-called "red crystal" by the signatory states moved a step closer last week when the Israeli and Palestinian emergency services signed a groundbreaking cooperation agreement. The accord, brokered by the Swiss foreign ministry, cleared the way for a deal...

So, Jews, the goyim will win after all? By Stan Goodenough November 28th, 2005 According to the newspapers here in Israel, Jews are rejoicing because the International Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies (IFRCRC) has finally agreed to open its doors to the Red Shield (or Star) of David, the Israeli organization that offers equivalent services to the Red Cross and Red Crescent. Ok, so there’s a small catch: The Israelis cannot actually use their Red Star of David in this new arrangement, but must agree to a new symbol, a Red Crystal, inside which, for...

Magen David Adom chairman Dr. Noam Yifrach will on Monday sign an unprecedented agreement with his counterpart at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in Geneva that is expected to lead to MDA's formal inclusion in the International Red Cross Movement and recognition of its red Star of David symbol. The red Star of David will continue to be used inside Israel, but when on international missions and for fundraising, MDA can be represented by a red star inside a red "crystal," essentially a diamond-shaped frame, or an empty red crystal when a red Star of David could jeopardize its...

Three Jewish Democrats in Congress asked colleagues to sign a letter thanking Condoleezza Rice for helping advance Magen David Adom’s cause at the International Red Cross. The U.S. secretary of state has been instrumental in opening discussions to create the red diamond, a third, neutral symbol that non-Christian and non-Muslim nations can use in addition to the Red Cross and Red Crescent. “Your personal engagement on this issue has been extremely important and is most appreciated,” says the letter circulated by Reps. Eliot Engel and Gary Ackerman of New York and Henry Waxman of California. “We are well aware that...

School head bans Jewish symbol 'for fear of provoking Muslim students'; teacher hires lawyers, vows to fight back Norway – A teacher working at an adult education center who has been told to stop wearing a Star of David because it "provokes the many Muslim students at the school" in 2004 is now considering legal action against the ban, the Norwegian television network NRK has reported. School head Kjell Gislefoss, said he thought that the Star of David can be seen to represent the State of Israel and is fearful of offending the school's Muslim students, citing immigrants from the...

A municipally employed teacher in Kristiansand has been prevented from wearing a Star of David around his neck. Kristiansand Adult Education Center, where the man works, ruled that the Jewish symbol could be deemed a provocation towards the many Muslim students at the school, Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reports. Teacher Inge Telhaug said he feels this is a violation of his freedom of speech. "I can't accept this. It is a small star, 16 millimeters (0.6 inches) that I have around my neck, usually under a T-shirt. I see it as my right to wear it," Telhaug told NRK. Telhaug teaches...

BURLINGAME, Calif. - The city of Burlingame has paid $1,600 to obscure a design at the newly opened Pershing Park playground that a resident felt resembled the Star of David. The park was closed on Thursday of last week while a contractor filled in a pattern in the playground's surface that consisted of six yellow stars laid out in the shape of the Star of David. Residents had complained it was disrespectful for children to step on the design. The pattern was changed to an arch shape that more closely resembles a sun. The original contractor made a mistake in...

A Boca Raton ordinance that bans upright crosses and Stars of David in a city cemetery doesn't violate a state law designed to protect religious freedom, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

(The California Legionnaire link has yet to upload the July/August 2004 issue available in PDF. Just received in the mail today.) Organization seeks to remove or destroy crosses and other religious symbols Veterans launched a campaign on July 4th in support of a Resolution adopted by The American Legion Department of California at its recent convention which calls on Congress to amend federal law to prohibit judges from awarding attorney fees to the ACLU in cases brought "to remove or destroy religious symbols." Delegates to the Legion's state-wide convention held in Redding, CA, in June overwhelmingly, if not unanimously, adopted...

Abusing the most emotive of Jewish symbols is deeply offensive, writes David Bernstein. The decision to remove the offensive anti-Israel art display in Flinders Street has, inevitably, rekindled the freedom of speech and art debate that erupted over Andres Serrano's equally offensive Piss Christ a few years ago. There was never any doubt that the exhibit - which superimposed a series of outrageously distorted "facts" about Israel's mistreatment of the Palestinians on a huge Star of David - was going to enrage the local Jewish community. For obvious and understandable reasons. In the first place, the use of the Star...

A floating art installation by a Polish artist in a former synagogue provides a dramatic counterpoint to the now-infamous installation in Stockholm about a Palestinian suicide bomber. Israel's ambassador to Sweden made headlines recently by unplugging an artwork that featured a portrait of Palestinian suicide bomber Hanadai Jaradet floating in a white boat in a basin of blood-red water. In the western Polish city of Poznan, however, artist Janusz Marciniak made far different use of a symbolic watery backdrop for an installation symbolizing Jewish loss, hope and renewal. Marciniak shaped 600 burning memorial candles into a huge Star of David...

BRAVE NEW SCHOOLSTeacher told: Ditch the Star of DavidOfficials say small piece of jewelry could provoke Muslim students Posted: February 6, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com A teacher in Norway has been told to stop wearing the Star of David he normally hangs around his neck because it might provoke the many Muslim students at the school where he works. According to a report in the Aftenposten newspaper of Oslo, officials from the Kristiansand Adult Education Center, a government institution, told Inge Telhaug he could no longer wear the 0.6-inch-wide piece of jewelry. "I can't accept this. It is a small...

A municipally employed teacher in Kristiansand has been prevented from wearing a Star of David around his neck. Kristiansand Adult Education Center, where the man works, ruled that the Jewish symbol could be deemed a provocation towards the many Muslim students at the school, Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reports. Teacher Inge Telhaug said he feels this is a violation of his freedom of speech. "I can't accept this. It is a small star, 16 millimeters (0.6 inches) that I have around my neck, usually under a T-shirt. I see it as my right to wear it," Telhaug told NRK. Telhaug teaches...

THE D.C. SNIPER'S JIHAD By MICHELLE MALKIN -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Email Archives Print Reprint December 10, 2003 -- FROM the moment John Allen Muhammad and Lee Malvo were arrested in the Beltway-area sniper case last fall, the media and Muslim activists wanted us to believe that the serial killings had absolutely nothing to do with Islamic terrorism: * CNN downplayed Muhammad's religious conversion - calling him by his old name, John Allen Williams, when his identity was first revealed. Malvo was cast as a clueless dupe with no true convictions. * Nihad Awad of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) argued: "There...