I dislike the International Red Cross (which is, I hasten to add, a separate organization from the American Red Cross). Going back at least as far as World War II, the International Red Cross hasn’t been a friend to Jews. This trend continues, with the latest example being its sickening scolding of an Israeli family for daring to ask that it deliver medicine to their daughter being held hostage in Gaza.  

The International Committee of the Red Cross (aka “the ICRC,” “the Red Cross,” or “the International Red Cross”) got off to a strong humanitarian start. Henry Dunant, a Swiss businessman, came up with the idea in 1859 after witnessing the aftermath of the Battle of Solferino, fought during the Second Italian War of Independence.

When the fighting ended, around 40,000 soldiers were left dead or dying on the battlefield. Dunant convinced the local population to ignore the side on which the soldiers fought and, instead, to step in and provide relief to all the wounded men. Dunant later wrote about this experience and, by 1863, concerned Genevan citizens formed the organization that led to the Geneva Convention and the creation of the International Red Cross.

Image: IRGC logo (edited). Public domain.

During World War II, members of the ICRC famously visited Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia, which the Nazis had set up as a waystation to Auschwitz and other extermination camps. Conditions were deplorable, with roughly 33,000 people dying in Theresienstadt before even being shipped to the gas chambers. Of the 144,000 who passed through the camp, only 23,000 survived the war, an 84% death rate. Nevertheless, when the Nazis allowed members of the ICRC and the Danish Red Cross to visit in June 1944, the latter were totally taken in by a quick paint and clean-up job that the Nazis performed.

One could say that the Nazis were masters of fakery, so the ICRC could be forgiven for being tricked. The camp had been cleaned up, flowers planted, and prisoners roped into performing as if they were happy, on pain of death. (All those involved in the Potemkin Village charade were then immediately sent to death camps.) With war raging, how picky were the Red Cross delegates going to be about an interned population…although they might have wondered where the rest of Czechoslovakia’s Jews were or why, specifically, the Jews were being interned at all.

However, the ICRC showed its true colors when it refused to admit Israel’s national emergency medical service to join its rank. Israel originally created its Magen David Adom (or Red Star of David) when it was still under the British Mandate. However, although the modern State of Israel came into existence in 1948, it wasn’t until 2006 that the ICRC recognized it.

The alleged reason for this refusal was the Jews’ stubborn insistence on using a Star of David rather than a cross. However, in 1929, the ICRC admitted into its ranks the Red Crescent, representing the former Ottoman Empire. The crescent, of course, is the symbol of Islam. The ICRC then refused to acknowledge any new emblems, despite Israel’s creation and the fact that Israel’s mortal enemies got to keep that crescent.   

Still, Israel persisted and, as noted, in 2006, it got ICRC admission. It turns out, though, that this may have been a wasted effort. That’s because the ICRC, like the UN, is another ostensibly neutral organization that has chosen sides in this conflict. That’s the only explanation for this news report:

Families of Israelis being held hostage by Hamas were reprimanded by representatives of the Red Cross in a recent meeting, with the Red Cross telling one family they need to “think about the Palestinian side,” KAN has reported.

Roni and Simona, the parents of Doron Steinbrecher who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from Kfar Azza on October 7, were invited to a meeting with the Red Cross this past week.

Doron needs a medication she takes daily and her parents thought that the Red Cross was finally willing to transfer the medication to her, but instead, they were sat down and reprimanded by representatives of the Red Cross.

“Think about the Palestinian side,” the representatives of the Red Cross told Simona, according to KAN. “It’s hard for the Palestinians, they’re being bombed.”

Talk about mission creep! As I wrote at the top of this essay, the whole purpose of the organization was to provide care without taking sides. And yet here we have a civilian who was violently seized and is being held prisoner, but the ICRC is refusing to get her the medicine she needs. Henry Dunant is rolling in his grave over this disgusting conduct.

(The American Red Cross, as I said, is entirely separate from the ICRC and does not suffer from the same shortcomings. Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881. It has never had a connection to the ICRC.)