[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 435 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. CON. RES. 435
Congratulating Israel's Magen David Adom Society for achieving full
membership in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 26, 2006
Mr. Ackerman (for himself, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Burton of
Indiana, Mr. Berman, Mr. King of New York, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Pence, Mr.
Engel, Mr. McCotter, Mrs. Lowey, Ms. Harris, Mr. Wexler, Ms.
Schakowsky, Mr. Rothman, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Grijalva, Ms.
Berkley, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mrs. Maloney, Ms. Matsui, Mr.
Crowley, Mr. Holt, Mr. Honda, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Brown of Ohio,
Mr. Higgins, Mr. Delahunt, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Mrs. Davis of
California, Mr. Pallone, Mrs. McCarthy, Mr. Etheridge, Mr. Kirk, Mr.
Cardin, and Mr. Scott of Georgia) submitted the following concurrent
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International
Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Congratulating Israel's Magen David Adom Society for achieving full
membership in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement,
and for other purposes.
Whereas international humanitarian law is, quintessentially, about principle,
establishing standards of conduct that can not be breached under any
circumstance, or for any calculation of political efficacy or utility;
Whereas the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a worldwide
institution in which all national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies
have equal status, whose mission is to prevent and alleviate human
suffering wherever it may be found, without discrimination;
Whereas the Magen David Adom (Red Shield of David) Society is the national
humanitarian society in the State of Israel and has performed
heroically, aiding all in need of assistance, on a purely humanitarian
basis, without bias, even those responsible for acts of horrific
violence against Israeli civilians;
Whereas since 1949 the Magen David Adom Society has been refused admission into
the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and has been
relegated to observer status without a vote because it has used the Red
Shield of David, the only such national organization denied membership
in the Movement;
Whereas the red cross symbol was intended as the visible expression of the
neutral status enjoyed by the medical services of the armed forces and
the protection thus conferred, and there is not, and has never been, any
implicit religious connection in the cross;
Whereas since its establishment in 1930, the Magen David Adom Society, because
it does not use either a red cross or a red crescent, has been prevented
from full membership in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent
Movement;
Whereas Israel acceded to the Geneva Conventions in 1951 with a reservation
specifying their intent to continue to use the Magen David Adom;
Whereas international consultations among nations and national Red Cross
Societies ensued until 1999, when the International Committee of the Red
Cross formally called for adoption of a protocol to the Geneva
Conventions creating a third neutral symbol; allowing the use of either
the Red Cross, the Red Crescent, or the third neutral symbol; and
allowing for the third neutral symbol to be used in combination with
other national Red Cross Society symbols--including the Magen David
Adom;
Whereas a diplomatic conference to adopt this proposal into the Geneva
Conventions was scheduled for October 2000, but was prevented by the
outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada;
Whereas the United States and the American Red Cross have worked ceaselessly to
resolve the issue of the third neutral symbol and achieve full
membership in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement for
the Magen David Adom Society;
Whereas Congress has insisted that funds made available to the International
Committee of the Red Cross be contingent on a certification by the
Secretary of State confirming that the Magen David Adom Society is a
full participant in the activities of the International Committee of the
Red Cross;
Whereas the American Red Cross has stood alone among all the national
humanitarian aid societies, and has withheld over $45,000,000 in dues to
the Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to protest
the exclusion of the Magen David Adom;
Whereas the Government of Switzerland, the depositary state for the Geneva
Conventions, convened a Diplomatic Conference of the states parties to
the Geneva Conventions in December 2005 for the purpose of adopting a
Third Additional Protocol and rightly resisted efforts to block the
broad international consensus in favor of resolving the third neutral
symbol question;
Whereas the efforts by the United States and the American Red Cross at the
Diplomatic Conference in December 2005 were critical to achieving both
an overwhelming positive vote in favor of adopting the Third Additional
Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, as well as an extremely important
memorandum of understanding between the Magen David Adom and the
Palestinian Red Crescent Society;
Whereas sustaining international support for the adoption of the third neutral
symbol against efforts to divert the conference into unrelated political
matters required extraordinary diplomatic efforts by the United States
and the American Red Cross;
Whereas the Third Additional Protocol adopted in Geneva in December 2005
established the new third neutral symbol, the ``red crystal'' that can
be used in conjunction with the Red Shield of David and cleared the way
for Israeli membership in the international movement;
Whereas in June 2006 the states parties to the Geneva Conventions, the national
humanitarian aid societies, the Federation of the Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies, and the International Committee of the Red Cross and
Red Crescent met in Geneva to adopt rules implementing the Third
Additional Protocol; and
Whereas at the June 2006 meeting in Geneva, the International Red Cross and Red
Crescent Movement accepted the Magen David Adom Society as a full
member: Now, therefore,
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That--
(1) Congress--
(A) commends the Magen David Adom Society for its
long and distinguished record of providing humanitarian
assistance to all those in need of aid, even those
responsible for heinous atrocities against Israeli
civilians;
(B) congratulates the Magen David Adom Society, and
the Government and the people of the State of Israel,
for securing full membership in the International Red
Cross and Red Crescent Movement, 57 years past due;
(C) thanks the President, the Secretary of State,
and United States diplomatic representatives for their
tireless pursuit and maintenance of the international
consensus that culminated in the Magen David Adom
Society's recent acceptance as a full member in the
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement;
(D) thanks the American Red Cross for its
unwavering and unyielding insistence within the
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement that
the principles of international humanitarian law could
not be reconciled with continued exclusion of the Magen
David Adom Society; and
(E) thanks the Government of Switzerland and
officials of the International Committee of the Red
Cross for helping to prepare the necessary consensus
and carrying to completion the adoption of the Third
Additional Protocol by the states parties to the Geneva
Conventions and the rules for its implementation; and
(2) Congress commends the President for--
(A) submitting the Third Additional Protocol to the
Geneva Conventions to the Senate for its advice and
consent; and
(B) pending approval by the Senate, preparing for
congressional consideration and enactment of
legislation necessary to carry into effect the Third
Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions.
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