A notoriously racist rabbi who once called on Israel to slaughter a million Palestinian civilians has been appointed to head a supervisory committee for Magen David Adom (MDA) – Israel’s equivalent of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.

Haaretz reported that under pressure from ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups MDA decided to set up a rabbinical committee to dictate religious guidelines – including gender relations – for volunteers in the rescue service.

The committee is headed by Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of Safad, whose salary is paid by the Israeli government. Eliyahu has a long, well-documented history of extreme racism and has called for violence against Palestinians.

Since 2006, Magen David Adom – whose name means Red Star of David – has been a full member of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and is Israel’s internationally recognized agency for disaster management, ambulance service and blood banks.

The organization also raises tax-exempt donations in the United States through the American Friends of Magen David Adom.

‘Kill a million’

Violating neutrality and respect for international humanitarian law

As a member organization of ICRC, Magen David Adom is presumably committed to the mission of the ICRC:

The work of the ICRC is based on the Geneva Conventions of 1949, their Additional Protocols, its Statutes – and those of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement – and the resolutions of the International Conferences of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. The ICRC is an independent, neutral organization ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of war and armed violence. It takes action in response to emergencies and at the same time promotes respect for international humanitarian law and its implementation in national law.

What could be more contrary to that mission than Israel’s MDA appointing Shmuel Eliyahu who not only defends and advocates mass, indiscriminate violence against civilians, but is a racist par excellence?

It should be recalled that there was a years long campaign by Israel and Zionist organizations to get MDA accepted into the ICRC. If MDA does not completely dissociate itself from, and condemn racist inciters like Eliyahu, perhaps it should be expelled.

Moreover, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society should review any cooperation with MDA.