Friday, April 8, 2005
The American branches of some international organizations seem to be the occasional and only voices of sanity in an insane world. The International Committee of the Red Cross has blocked recognition of Israel's Magen Dovid Adom (Red Star of David - guess why) for years over the objections of the American Red Cross. Now the American branch of the YWCA, after first failing to do so, has repudiated the world body in its comparison of Israel to...where else?...Nazi Germany.
See: JPost: American YWCA rejects Israel=Nazi document
Doris Pagelkopf, vice president of the World YWCA and the American representative on the World YWCA board, made the inflammatory comment in a "witness report" to the international organization following a Middle East tour last spring.
"I strongly felt the correlation to World War II. During that war Hitler tried to exterminate the Jews and now a group of Israelis... is trying to choke off and rid the land of Palestinians," she wrote.
Although the comment was excluded from the official report, it generated much opposition, both within the movement and without.
In March, Pagelkopf told The Jerusalem Post that she regretted any hurt her report had caused.
At the annual meeting of its national coordinating board over the weekend, YWCA USA made it clear that the comment did not reflect its organizational perspective...
Also, ADL Commends YWCA USA for Dissenting from World Body's Anti-Israel Report
"We commend the YWCA for publicly stating that it does not endorse the outrageous and offensive views expressed in the 2004 report," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "Absolutely no comparison can be made between the complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the atrocities committed by the Nazis against the Jews. This is a charge that is purposefully directed at Jews in an effort to associate the victims of the Nazi's crimes with the Nazi perpetrators, and serves to diminish the significance and uniqueness of the Holocaust."...
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Doris Pagelkopf has served the YWCA at a top level for many years. She made a comment based on her personal observations. We need to listen to these comments and not be so touchy-feely about hurting someones feelings. In a sense the conflicts were both religion based, and both are about killing. Lay off her and listen carefully to make your own opinion. Lay off & support Doris!