American Red Cross Chairwoman, Bonnie McElveen-Hunger, told an audience of American Friends of Magen David Adom at St. Andrews Country Club recently, “We are working to assure the implementation of MDA. We must right the wrong of discrimination against MDA.”
When a vote was taken by the International Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland in the past week, the International Red Cross welcomed both the Magen David Adomand the Palestin Red Crescent Society to the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. After the vote, she said, “We are extremely pleased that… MDA is now an equal partner with the 184 other national societies.”
The MDA has been rejected by the International Red Cross for more than fifty years. She noted that since 1948, when Israel gained statehood, the American Red Cross has fought for international recognition of MDA as Israel’s equivalent to the Red Cross, and has withheld $45-million in dues to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, since May 2000.
McElveen-Hunter said that the success of the conference in Geneva was due in large part to a memorandum of understanding and agreement on operational arrangements between MDA and the Palestine Red Crescent Society. Both societies have committed themselves to taking concrete steps to improve humanitarian conditions in these areas.
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