Resolution on MDA Rejected

For the third consecutive year the resolutions committee of the national convention of the American Red Cross (ARC) has rejected a resolution urging the International Committee of the Red Cross to immediately admit Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) to the League of Red Cross Societies.

Mark Powers, of the Harrisburg, Po, chapter of the Red Cross, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that he will resubmit the resolution to the 56th national convention of the American Red Cross in Washington, D.C. next year.

Powers said the resolutions committee refused to approve the resolution for the 1980 convention which was held in Los Angeles last week. He said it instead continued the ARC’s policy of saying that it will support MDA when it seeks international recognition.

The Harrisburg resolution noted that MDA “has met every criteria for admission to the family of Red Cross Societies, except for an approved emblem. For the past 32 years, repeated efforts have been made to have the symbol of Mogen David Adom (Red Star of David) take its rightful place alongside the other internationally recognized symbols of the Red Cross, the Red Crescent of the Moslem countries, and the Red Lion and Sun of Iran.”

The Harrisburg resolution called for the national board of governors to appoint a committee to seek an immediate recognition of MDA by the International Committee. The resolution added that if this effort is unsuccessful, the ARC committee should recommend “what additional steps the American Red Cross should take, even to the extent of taking steps to withhold operating funds from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the League of Red Cross Societies if deemed necessary, in order to achieve recognition of Mogen David Adom, and admission of that society to its rightful place in the Red Cross family.”