American Red Cross President Bernadine Healy Resigns Amid Red Shield of David Controversy

By Delinda C. Hanley

The day after the terrorist attacks on America, leaders of American Muslim organizations stood in the slow-moving block-long line outside the Red Cross building in downtown Washington, DC, waiting to donate blood with their fellow Americans. On Sept. 12 the nation still had hope that there might be survivors rescued from rubble of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon who would need blood and medical assistance. The Muslim leaders, in Washington for a scheduled Sept. 11 meeting with President George W. Bush that was postponed when disaster struck (see November Washington Report, p. 23), joined the line of blood donors to show their solidarity with the victims of the unspeakable attacks.

As TV cameras rolled, Dr. Bernadine Healy, president and CEO of the American Red Cross, came out to thank the American Muslim Political Coordination Council leaders for setting such a good example to their community. As this reporter stepped back to capture the scene on film, however, the Muslim leaders’ faces suddenly fell.

Drawing closer, the reason for their perplexed and hurt expressions became apparent. Dr. Healy was asking the American Muslim leadership to support publicly right then and there Israel’s full membership in the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent. For decades Israel has been lobbying for the inclusion of the Magen David Adom (Red Shield of David) emblem to join that of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Saying they would be happy to discuss the issue at a later date, the gentlemen demurred, politely suggesting that this was a time to think about America’s tragedy and put aside politics. Dr. Healy continued to press them, however, until Dr. Agha Saeed firmly repeated, “Today is for America. Let’s agree that today is for America.”

Six weeks later, according to a Nov. 1 Washington Jewish Week article headlined “Healy Went to Mat for Israel,” that single-minded dedication to Israel’s cause cost the American Red Cross president her $450,000-a-year job. At an Oct. 26 press conference at American Red Cross headquarters Dr. Healy announced her retirement effective Dec. 31. Weeping, she told 200 staff, volunteers and reporters she had no choice but to resign. Red Cross board chairman David McLaughlin said the board had not pushed Healy out. Standing beside him, Healy countered, “I don’t think that’s true.”

“Israel’s exclusion from the global Red Cross organization appears to have been the pivotal factor in the resignation,” the Jewish Week reported, adding that Dr. Healy told reporters “that she had been forced out of her job over policy differences with her board. In particular, she noted her unpopular decision to withhold American Red Cross dues from the International Committee of the Red Cross to protest the group’s refusal to give full membership to Magen David Adom, the Israeli relief group.”

Healy had taken the lead on what she described as a “controversial but principled stand” supporting Israel’s request to join the International Red Cross without having to accept either a cross or a crescent as its emblem. Hoping to force the inclusion of the Israeli branch, Healy decided to withhold American Red Cross annual dues, now totaling $10 million to $12 million, as well as Americans’ voluntary contributions to the International Red Cross. When the board attempted to reverse Healy’s decision and pay its back dues to the ICRC, Healy refused to back down.

Dr. Healy also faced criticism on her handling of the “Liberty Fund” donations raised in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations grilled Red Cross leaders after hearing two widows testify about their difficulties in getting any financial help—despite Americans’ record-breaking donations to families of the victims. (One widow, Russa Steiner, said the Red Cross did give her a check for $27,500 right before the hearing.)

“Let me ask the $564 million question,” Rep. James C. Greenwood (R-PA) asked Healy, referring to donations to the Red Cross Liberty Fund. “Can you assure the American people that every dime of those contributions will go to heal the wounds” of families affected by the terror attacks?

Healy’s response infuriated many. Around $300 million of the Liberty Fund would be spent for services or gifts to the attack victims, she replied, but the remaining funds would go toward long-term Red Cross plans.

Dr. Healy was also under fire for her refusal to allow the Red Cross to join a central database to keep track of how much financial aid was given to each victim’s family after the deadly Sept. 11 attacks. Those attacks left thousands of families without housing or unable to meet immediate needs such as rent, food, psychological assistance, tuition or mortgage payments. More than 140 charities raised a total of at least $840 million to assist these families, but a coordinated data base was required to make sure that everyone in need received help without duplication or fraud. Dr. Healy finally dropped her opposition on Oct. 24.

Critics also argued it was wrong to collect more blood than was needed after the attack. Much of the blood expired when it went unused 42 days after donation.

A cardiologist with degrees from Vassar, Harvard and Johns Hopkins, Healy is one of the few doctors ever to head the American Red Cross. The Irish-American native of Queens, NY assumed the leadership of the Red Cross in September 1999, succeeding Elizabeth Dole, who had resigned her position to seek the Republican presidential nomination. Prior to her work with the Red Cross, Healy had been the first woman to head the National Institutes of Health, although her tenure there from 1991 to 1993 also was controversial. In 1994, Healy unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate from Ohio. Her husband, Dr. Floyd Loop, is chief executive officer of the Cleveland Clinic.

As Dr. Healy announced her resignation during a time of crisis for the United States, she was pressed by reporters to explain her single-minded support for Israel’s membership in the international organization. She replied, “We are a country that doesn’t exclude. You don’t belong to a country club that excludes blacks or Jews.”

The respected International Red Cross and Red Crescent does not block Israel’s entry into its club because its staff are citizens of a Jewish state. Israel reminds Red Crescent ambulance crews daily why the organization should continue to deny Israel membership until Israel ends its human rights violations in occupied Palestine.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, for example, an ambulance was sent on Nov. 6 to the village of Tal near Nablus after a clash near an Israeli military outpost. After Red Crescent nurses informed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) they had been unable to resuscitate a critically injured Israeli soldier, they requested permission to treat two Palestinians injured by Israeli gunfire, in custody with another young Palestinian 50 meters away. The IDF refused to grant permission to the nurses, who reported that they soon heard gunfire and saw seven or eight soldiers standing in a half-circle and shooting at the ground. The soldiers reportedly informed the nurses that the three prisoners were now dead. The three young men each had been shot in the head.

When Israeli military forces invaded Palestinian towns and villages throughout the West Bank on Oct. 18, the occupying troops made no allowances for emergency situations. Rihab Nufal, in labor with medical complications, died in the car while trying to pass through a military checkpoint near the occupied village of al-Khader. The 30-year-old woman became the 26th Palestinian known to have died as a result of being denied access to medical care due to Israeli-imposed closures.

Israeli soldiers have repeatedly fired on ambulances, drivers and emergency technicians. Additional information on Israeli human rights violations and the medical crisis in Palestine is available from the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees Web site, <http://www.upmrc.org>. Contributions may be directed to Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Comittees, P.O. Box 514833, Jerusalem, or via The Friends of UPMRC, Inc., P.O. Box 450554, Atlanta, GA 31145.

Delinda C. Hanley is the news editor of the Washington Report.