'Red Crystal' debuts to protect medics

[oberliner]

GENEVA - The "Red Crystal" debuts Sunday as an emblem that can be used to protect its relief workers, part of an agreement for Israel's admission to the Red Cross movement after more than half a century of exclusion.

During decades of stalemate, stemming from the Jewish state's reluctance to display a cross or crescent, some countries had feared that adding a red Star of David to the list of protective emblems would open the door to proliferation of other such symbols and undermine the recognition that any emblem had to protect humanitarian workers.

But it was unlikely that the red crystal, a red square frame standing on one corner, would be widely displayed in the near future.

A spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross conceded Friday it will take time before the crystal will be widely enough known that medics on the battlefield will be able to work under it without fear of being targeted.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070112/ap_on_re_eu/red_cross_new_emblem

Honestly, I don't see why they wouldn't accept the Star of David.

[DRoseDARs]

1. Anti-Semitism has won the day...

The reason they wouldn't accept the Star of David is because the Muslim member states bitched, moaned, and whined ever since it was proposed that Israel's version of the organization be brought into the fold. They hate the Israelis for the sake of hating them, as evidenced by the fact of their resistance to Israel's inclusion to a non-political, non-religious medical and emergency relief organization. Either the Red Jewish Star of David should have been allowed alongside the Red Christian Cross and the Red Islamic Crescent, or they should have all been abandoned in favor of that stupid-looking Red Crystal (which I believe doubles as a nautical symbol on buoys). I take issue with a lot of what the Israeli government does, but how anything they do is the fault of a bunch of relief workers is beyond me; this is stupid. :thumbsdown:

[rockymountaindem]

2. Rediculous

The Star of David should have been allowed. What's the significance of that "crystal"? Nothing.