Thursday, December 1, 2005
Another Banagor rant, this time on the issue of the limited acceptance of Magen Dovid Adom (Israel's Red Cross - the Red Star of David) into the International Red Cross movement: When is a Jew Allowed to be a Jew?
But Jews are different because everyone expects them to be good little Jews. They were once told to wear that symbol as a humiliation and mark them as different and lower than anyone else. Then it was fine for everyone to see a Jew walking around with that badge on their coat or arm, and no fuss was ever raised. And now, they are told not to wear it, because it is offensive to see Jews as free people with a land of their own...
I find this to be a very sticky issue. Of course we never want to compromise our principles, and seeking to expose hypocrisy wherever it may dwell is an important thing. But the MDA also has a bigger job that may go beyond the day-to-day issues of Jewish acceptance -- a job that goes on whether they are accepted, or even if they are hated -- that is their purely humanitarian mission. It seems obvious to me that MDA has compromised principle slightly in order to further thier humanitarian mission, and I'm not going to second guess them for that. That shouldn't stop the rest of us pointing out the fact that they had to make such a compromise and why and also what that says and means, however.
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Sorry, Sol, but I'm with Banagor on this one.
Are one billion Muslims so blind in their hatred that, in case of disaster, they would not accept medical help, or food, or shelter, if it had a red Star of David on it? Fine; if this bothers you, wait for help from your Muslim brothers instead. Don't hold your breath.
(For the record, there is nothing theological about this. As a Muslim Israeli policeman once explained to me, observant Muslims are taught that Jewish food is acceptable, Christian food is not. If you think about the stringent requirements of kashrut, and the somewhat more relaxed restraints ther Muslims use, you'll see that this makes sense.)
In due course of time, I see natural disasters falling into two categories -- those that permit MDA to send help, and those who do not. Let people worldwide see that they are only hurting themselves by denying themselves help from MDA. They'll come around.
respectfully,
Daniel in Brookline
Solomon,
I don't understand in what way you think that acceptance into the international organization would "further" the humanitarian mission.
Would MDA get additional funds? Are the benefits of acceptance (beyond mere acceptance) spelled out anywhere?
I don't know. You'd have to ask the people who run MDA who obviously think this is an OK thing. Maybe they run by a different calculus than we do -- sort of the way ZAKA treats the remains of a suicide bomber the same way they treat the reamins of their victims, while I might be inclined to bury them in pork fat instead. MDA is in the "life saving" business, while I'm in the "bitching on the internet" business. Maybe they think that they'll be able to operate in some places where they found it difficult or impossible before. Maybe they'll be able to go into one of these bigoted moron-infested areas and quietly do some good. And maybe someone will hear them speaking Hebrew, and find out that those aren't just Jews pulling their loved ones out of the rubble, those are Israeli Jews doing it, and maybe it will make one or two people feel a little differently.
Like I said, I don't know. I'd be interested in a fuller explanation from MDA -- but I'd expect to find out it had less to do with politics, and more weight with their life-saving mission.