International Committee of the Red Cross This meant that although Arab ambulances would be protected by the ICRC, Israeli ambulances would not. In May 2000, Bernadine Healy, the President of the American Red Cross, wrote: "The international committee's feared proliferation of symbols is a pitiful fig leaf, used for decades as the reason for excluding the Magen David Adom – the Shield (or Star) of David." In protest over the ICRC's perceived anti-Israel discrimination, the ARC withdrew its financial support. In 2005, at a meeting of nations party to the Geneva convention, the ICRC adopted the new Red Crystal. Magen David Adom then centered the Star
International Committee of the Red Cross the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and also it is not an international organization, neither of non-governmental nor of governmental type. The ICRC limits its membership to Swiss nationals only, and also it does not have a policy of open and unrestricted membership for individuals as its new members are selected by the Committee itself (a process called cooptation). However, since the early 1990s, the ICRC employs persons from all over the world to serve in its field mission and at Headquarters. In 2007, almost half of ICRC staff was non-Swiss. The ICRC has special privileges and legal immunities in