Reckoning with the Red Cross

OPINION:

Recent revelations about U.S. Agency for International Development funds have prompted many Americans to wonder where and how their tax dollars are being spent. In some cases, nonprofits that bill themselves as serving American foreign policy objectives are, in fact, actively undermining them.

The International Committee of the Red Cross claims to be an “independent” and “neutral” organization that “works to protect victims of armed conflict.” But the recent war between Israel and Hamas has exposed the group’s failings.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas and other Iranian-backed proxies invaded Israel and perpetrated the largest massacre of Jewish civilians since the Holocaust. The terrorists proudly filmed their atrocities, including the killings of women, children and the elderly. They murdered more than 1200 civilians, including 40 American citizens.

An estimated 251 people were abducted from Israel and taken into the Gaza Strip. Notably, the hostages weren’t just Israeli; many were also citizens of the United States, Britain, Russia, France, Canada and elsewhere. Thirty-one Thai nationals were also kidnapped.

The ICRC is responsible for the welfare of these hostages. And it has explicitly failed in its mission.

On Monday, three Israeli hostages were released as part of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. The hostages had been visibly mistreated, their gaunt appearance shocking. President Trump was among the many appalled.

“When I see the scene that I saw today, with people coming out of helicopters and airplanes that are emaciated. They look like they haven’t had a meal in a month, [there’s] no reason for that, and I don’t know how much longer we can take it,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “When I watch people that were healthy people a reasonably short number of years ago and you look at them today, they look like they’ve aged 25 years. They literally look like the old pictures of Holocaust survivors. … I don’t know how long we’re going to take that,” he said.

Additional details about the treatment of the hostages have emerged. Returning survivors have reported that those in captivity have been burned, gagged, chained, hanged by their feet and starved. Many have been left with untreated injuries, including gunshot wounds. Their captors have deprived hostages of sleep and sunlight, keeping many underground in tunnels scarcely big enough for small animals, let alone human beings.

In September, the bodies of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages were recovered in a tunnel in Rafah. The 23-year-old Israeli American was found in an “airless, completely pitch-black tunnel with no plumbing,” said his mother, Rachel Goldberg-Polin. Plastic buckets were found at the end of the tunnel so the hostages could use the bathroom. “It was a horrifying scene. All of them were so thin, all of them were shot multiple times at close range,” his mother told reporters. The 6-foot-tall Hersh weighed a mere 117 pounds. In the months before his execution, Hersh was one of several hostages forced to give a videotaped “confession” condemning Israel.

Other hostages were hidden in the homes of “average” Gazans, including employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and journalists such as Abdallah Aljamal, who was a Hamas spokesperson and a “reporter” for the Palestine Chronicle, a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Throughout the conflict, Hamas and other Iranian proxies have used UNRWA facilities, hospitals and schools to store weapons and facilitate the transit of terrorist operatives and hostages. The use of human shields is a favored tactic by the terrorist organization. It is also a war crime.

Of course, forced videotaped “confessions,” lack of medical care and sanitation, food and sleep deprivation, rape and torture are among the many war crimes perpetrated by Hamas and its minions. But Hamas has many enablers, some of which are beneficiaries of U.S. largesse.

The ICRC failed to ensure the safety and well-being of the hostages. They failed to advocate for them. Not once did the ICRC work to ensure that hostages were receiving medical care or that they were being properly treated and fed. Indeed, the ICRC didn’t see a single hostage during their time in captivity. For many fortunate enough to have been freed, the first time they saw the International Red Cross was at their release. In short, the ICRC played the role of a glorified Uber driver, taking released hostages from Gaza to Israel. And even here, they failed.

On Jan. 25, four Israeli female hostages were released. Before they were loaded into Red Cross vans, Hamas forced the women to walk onto a podium and thank their captors before a baying crowd. The hostages were given gift bags, a framed “certificate of completion” and a key chain with a Palestinian flag. As the Red Cross looked on, these women were forced to smile and have their picture taken while holding their “certificates of completion.” The whole spectacle is as gruesome as it is outrageous. Many female hostages endured sexual abuse and rape from their captors, and some were allegedly drugged before their release.

The square arranged for the spectacle, filmed by an Al Jazeera journalist working with Hamas, was festooned with Arabic and English slogans proclaiming “Palestine: The victory of the oppressed people vs the Nazi Zionism.” Palestinians attempted to attack the Israeli women while they were being loaded into vans. As a further insult, the windows of the Red Cross vans were uncovered, ensuring that the women could see their tormentors as they drove away from Gaza.

The ICRC has claimed it couldn’t advocate for the hostages without shedding its role as a “neutral intermediary.” Yet the organization’s timidity is tellingly one-sided; the ICRC hasn’t shown a reluctance to criticize Israel during this conflict.

The United States is the largest contributor to the ICRC, contributing roughly a quarter of its budget. The press should note the ICRC’s failings. And Americans should ask themselves whether they want to fund glorified Uber drivers for Hamas.

• Sean Durns is a senior research analyst for CAMERA, the 65,000-member, Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis.