\"All diplomatic and financial efforts over the last 50 years to gain full membership for the Magen David Adom [in the International Red Cross] have now failed,\" according to long-time American Red Cross associate Fred S. Hirsekorn. \"What is morally right and just has had no effect... The prospects for MDA recognition will depend upon whether or not the ICRC and the Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies will continue to be guided by politics or will adopt the humanitarian principles which they publish.\"
Hirsekorn, who served as Chairman of the Board of the St. Paul Chapter of the Red Cross, was a member of official American Red Cross committees formed to help gain MDA recognition. In a special letter to Arutz-7, Hirsekorn wrote that he agrees with former U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger (whose Washington Post article was excerpted here two days ago) that the resignation of Dr. Bernadine Healy is a tragedy. Healy had led the campaign for recognition of the MDA until her recent resignation over this and other issues.
Hirsekorn wrote, however, that he disagreed with Eagleburger\'s assertion that \"the American Red Cross has acquiesced for decades in the policy of the [opposition to] accepting MDA as the legitimate emblem of the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross.\" In fact, Hirsekorn feels, \"There have been serious diplomatic efforts made by the ARC over the fifty or so frustrating years to help MDA gain full membership. It is true that such efforts essentially were words from time to time and not comparable to Dr. Healy\'s courageous action to protect the integrity of the [Red Cross] and to see justice done.\"
Hirsekorn, who served as Chairman of the Board of the St. Paul Chapter of the Red Cross, was a member of official American Red Cross committees formed to help gain MDA recognition. In a special letter to Arutz-7, Hirsekorn wrote that he agrees with former U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger (whose Washington Post article was excerpted here two days ago) that the resignation of Dr. Bernadine Healy is a tragedy. Healy had led the campaign for recognition of the MDA until her recent resignation over this and other issues.
Hirsekorn wrote, however, that he disagreed with Eagleburger\'s assertion that \"the American Red Cross has acquiesced for decades in the policy of the [opposition to] accepting MDA as the legitimate emblem of the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross.\" In fact, Hirsekorn feels, \"There have been serious diplomatic efforts made by the ARC over the fifty or so frustrating years to help MDA gain full membership. It is true that such efforts essentially were words from time to time and not comparable to Dr. Healy\'s courageous action to protect the integrity of the [Red Cross] and to see justice done.\"