We can compromise.
Place the six pointed star in the crescent instead of the five pointed star. There you have it... everyone happy!
LOL
Posted on 09/13/2005 11:03:35 AM PDT by Alouette
GENEVA - Member countries of the international Red Cross movement met on Monday to investigate whether they can revive an effort to give Israel full status five years after the last attempt failed because of Arab-Israeli tension.
The disagreement centers around whether a red Star of David can join the emblems of the red cross and red crescent to identify ambulances, medical workers and others on humanitarian missions.
Israel, which cooperates with the movement, has been denied full membership over the emblem issue for 57 years.
"Members are holding informal discussions on whether or not to convene a diplomatic conference," said Raphael Saborit, a spokesman for the Swiss foreign ministry.
Delegates from 123 countries and several international organizations are meeting for two days behind closed doors to determine whether a consensus would support calling the formal meeting.
The preliminary meeting was called by Switzerland, which is the depository country of the Geneva Conventions on warfare that lays the ground rules for the Red Cross movement.
Switzerland decided earlier this year to revive the process because of favorable "political and diplomatic circumstances," Saborit said.
Switzerland canceled the previous conference, which had been scheduled for October 2000, because of the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada against Israel.
The latest proposal envisions what its proponents call a red crystal — a square standing on one corner, with a blank white interior and a thick red border. Magen David Adom, or MDA, the Israeli society, would be allowed to put its Red Star of David in the center but the Israeli military would not be able to use the combined symbol in an armed conflict to protect its medics.
Once the diplomatic conference agrees to an additional symbol and two member countries ratify it, all members of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement would be free to chose one of the three symbols.
The American Red Cross has been campaigning for full Israeli membership for years. It has withheld six years' of payment owed to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies — totaling approximately $34 million — since May 2000 to protest the MDA's not being admitted.
The red cross emblem was first adopted in 1863, when Swiss humanitarians founded the movement to care for war victims. It simply reverses the colors of the neutral Swiss flag, without any religious intent.
But Muslims, reminded of the crusader's cross from centuries earlier, refused to use the emblem. Instead, the Ottoman empire was already using the red crescent to protect its medical workers in the 19th century.
The red crescent, along with the Red Lion and Sun of Iran, was enshrined with the red cross in the Geneva conventions of 1929. __
Associated Press writer Alexander G. Higgins contributed to this story.
Idiot.
Highly eloquent response, perfectly refuting any point I made. I must bow to your superior logic -- should you state any.
bump!
...on the top of your head.
Just make it the Red Crescent of Embrace and sing kumbaya.
BTTT!
Just another example of the Muslims turning the world upside down and trying to make Israel a Pariah nation. Kudos to the American Red Cross for trying to stop them.
I can guarantee that Jews do not use their ambulances to smuggle weapons or terrorists. That is the act of the real Pariahs.
Typically appalling double standard. Have these nations learned none of the lessons of pre-World War II appeasement?
We can compromise.
Place the six pointed star in the crescent instead of the five pointed star. There you have it... everyone happy!
LOL
I refuse to state the glaringly obvious
If any Freeper donated to Katrina victims through the loathsome Red Cross, shame on you!
Obvious to imbeciles, or obvious in general? Or do you like the idea of the Red Cross using the religious symbols from hundreds of religions?
The 3-with-a-tail second from the right is the Hindi letter for "Om", which is a tone used in Hindu meditation and is usually recognized as a symbol for Hinduism.
As for the ships wheel, I don't know.
I'm not aware of any religions affiliated with the International Red Cross, though you're welcome to educate me. I suppose it will end when sovereign nations cease using the symbols of "new religions".
BTW, a clue as to why the MDA uses that symbol.
As you may have read, the Red Cross came from the Swiss flag inverted, not as a religious organization. Then the Muslims want their own because they don't like the cross. Now the Jews want their own as an official part of the Red Cross. Next the [insert religion here]. The Red Cross was good enough with just the cross.
No slight intended against the great work of Magen David Adom.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
That is the "dharma" another Hindu symbol.
Israel (not "The Jews" unless you're an anti-Semite who can't differentiate) has been using the Red Magen David longer than it has been a nation.
The one and only reason they are not allowed to join the IRC while other symbols are accepted is because they are a Jewish state.
BTW do you belong to the HOA in your neighborhood?
The fight for equal justice can be long and distressing. (sigh)
No, Israel, a secular state with 15 official religions and, yes, 80% Jewish, uses the symbol on their flag as the symbol of their Red Cross non-affiliate.
As to the Swiss cross being non-religious, I think you'll find the roots of the original usage in the 13th century are likely Christian, however that's a non issue.
You'll also find that the Magen David is a symbol used by numerous groups (you'll find it in European Churches), and wasn't really adopted as an informal Jewish symbol till the 18th and 19th centuries.
Clearly Israel doesn't want to "get along" with the cross and crescent, leaving the ball in the IRC's court.
As a matter of curiosity, just what countries do you think will be adopting objectionable symbols if the IRC recognizes Magen David Adom? A landslide the IRC won't be able to handle?
I think we both know that the decision has nothing to do with the threat of new symbol's, and everything to do with the fact that the majority Red Crescent members refuse to recognize the sovereignty of Israel.
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