Today, at a Capitol Hill news conference the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America joined with Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL) to call upon the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to immediately recognize and admit to full membership Israel’s Magen David Adom Society – with its own red Shield of David emblem.

Senators Clinton and Fitzgerald recently initiated senatorial letters to Secretary of State Colin Powell and leaders of the International Committee of the Red Cross to urge that they move Magen David Adom’s admission.

MDA has served as the premier medical and humanitarian relief agency in Israel since 1930. It has also participated in international relief efforts around the world where people of all nationalities and ethnicities have been in need.

The Union issued the following statement in connection with today’s news conference:

The Orthodox Union, the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, applauds and strongly supports the efforts of Senators Clinton and Fitzgerald to secure appropriate international recognition for Israel’s Magen David Adom – recognition that is long overdue. For more than seven decades, the “MDA” has served the humanitarian needs of the people of Israel and, indeed, the world. The exclusion of “MDA” from umbrella entities that welcome the parallel organizations of virtually every other nation is nothing less than anti-Semitic and inconsistent with the principles of international humanitarianism. We thank Senators Clinton and Fitzgerald for their commitment to this cause and urge them to press on until success is achieved.