Of crosses, crescents and crystals
They don't like Magen David? Red Cross groups should adopt the 'Red Crystal'
The debate in Geneva this week about whether to let Magen David Adom into the International Committee of the Red Cross is a classic example of genteel anti-Semitism, at least on the part of the cultured Swiss.
Syria and the rest of the Arab world (not counting the Palestinians, more on them in a moment), of course, are both too sly and too
naked in their attacks on MDA to worry about European upper middle class gentility.
After years and years of haggling, and even a financial boycott by the American Red Cross that has cost the Geneva-based society millions of dollars, the ICRC has come up with an upside-down, convoluted "solution" to the problem: It can't bring itself to let MDA's red Star of David into the room alongside the red cross and the red crescent (whatever happened to the oft-repeated phrase, "the three great monotheistic religions), but instead has created a new symbol, the absurdly named "Red Crystal" (Why are they calling it a crystal, anyway?
It's a square teetering on one point. Oh, I see why they couldn't call it the red square. Why not call it a diamond?). It's the kind of backward solution Israelis would respond to by wrapping an arm around their heads in recognition of how ass-backwards it is.
Who would use it?
Ostensibly available to all, I can't think of a single other country that will use the "Red Crystal" as its symbol. Why should any of them? They seem to be doing well either with the cross or the crescent.
But MDA would have to use the crystal to get recognition. In a small nod to local sensibilities, the organization would deign to let MDA put the Magen David inside the crystal. Got it? The six-pointed star squeezed inside the precariously balanced shape.
The final step to this ridiculous compromise came after MDA and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (itself a non-member of ICRC because it is not "officially" a sovereign state) agreed to recognize each other's symbols and efforts, particularly MDA's on the far side of the Green Line. That's an important and positive step that should not be overlooked in this week's silliness.
The agreement had all the well-dressed and well-born of Geneva breathing easily, and the press predicting quick approval as they entered this week's special meeting. All were set to approve the symbol.
MDA resigned itself to reality, despite flames of protest from hard-right wing commentators and loudmouths saying that it is an insult and should be rejected. Of course the loudmouths are right; it is an insult, but of course MDA is, too.
Israel has been a pariah state for this global organization for nearly 60 years and it is time to get in the door, no matter how. Standing on ceremony now is clearly the wrong step.
But Syria threw a last-minute firebomb into the polite halls of Geneva Tuesday by asking that its Red Crescent squads be allowed into the Golan Heights to care for "Syrians" there the way Israel and the Palestinians have reached an agreement to respect each other's organizations.
As of this writing, the issue is unresolved.
Jewish Star - No Jewish meaning?
Last-minute talks were under way to resolve the crisis. I won't predict here what will happen, but I have a suggestion that could make it all go away:
Make the "Red Crystal" the new symbol of the entire organization. Make every emergency services agency use the crystal as the main symbol, and let everyone put their own preferred national or religious symbol inside. That's really the only way to be fair.
The Red Cross's mealy-mouthed argument against MDA's Jewish Star has been that the cross itself has no religious meaning. Huh? It came from the Swiss flag, which the Swiss government itself says is based on the symbol of the Christian faith used by Swiss tribes and cantons more than 700 years ago (Crusades, anyone?).
Muslim countries couldn't stomach the Red Cross any more than Israel could many years later, and the Arab world, led by the Ottoman Empire, pretty much adopted the crescent early in the 20th century (this, by the way, comes from the Red Cross's own website).
So nu? If the cross is unacceptable to some, and the crescent is unacceptable to others, and the Star of David is unacceptable to nearly everyone, why not find a new, truly neutral symbol for all to use?
Put that unsteady crystal on everyone's ambulances. It would be a fitting symbol for today's unsettled times.
Alan D. Abbey is Founding Editor of Ynetnews. He can be reached at alanabbey@yahoo.com
