The Senate Foreign Relations Committee today adopted a resolution expressing the sense of the Committee that Israel’s Red Cross, the Magon David Adom, should be formally recognized by the International League of Red Cross Societies.
The resolution was first introduced last April by Sen. Paula Hawkins (R. Fla.) but the Committee adopted a similar substitute resolution proposed by Committee chairman Charles Percy (R. III.) The resolution adopted today, which differs only in minor technical details from that introduced by Hawkins, has 15 co-sponsors.
A spokesman for Percy’s office explained that in times of conflict, parties to the Geneva Convention are obliged not to interfere with the work of Red Cross Societies that are formally recognized. Percy said he felt that the Israeli Red Cross should be afforded this international legal protection, which it does not have at present.
RECOGNITION HAS LONG BEEN SOUGHT
American Jewish organizations have been seeking this recognition for a long time, and the American Red Cross and the State Department strongly support the resolution, the spokesman said.
In the past, the International League of Red Cross Societies has said it does not want a proliferation of symbols as the reason for not recognizing the Israeli Red Cross. However, critics have noted, it has recognized the Red Crescent in Moslem countries, in addition to the Red Cross used by many other countries.
The full Senate is expected to take up the resolution before it recesses on Friday. A “sense of the Senate” resolution stands on its own and a similar House bill is not required.
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