In 1944, representatives of the Red Cross visited the Nazis’ Potemkin concentration camp at Theresienstadt and credulously determined that Jews were being treated well. Around the same time, the Dutch branch of the organization cooperated meekly with the German authorities, refusing to bring aid packages to Jewish prisoners. The Red Cross took the same approach more recently in denying requests to try to deliver lifesaving medications to ailing prisoners held by Hamas. Until 2006 the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) would not recognize the Magen David Adom, its Jewish equivalent.

The story gets even worse with the appointment of its new director, Pierre Krahenbuhl. A longtime ICRC employee, Krahenbuhl served as the head of UNRWA—the UN organization tasked with prolonging the Israel-Palestinian conflict—from 2014 to 2019. Seth Mandel writes:

Not coincidentally, [2014] was a watershed year for the organization. Hamas instigated a war that summer by kidnapping and murdering Israelis (sound familiar?). In the middle of that war, UNRWA officials were shocked—shocked!—to find Hamas rockets in one of its schools. Officials condemned it as an aberration. But it was only the beginning. A few days later, it happened again. And then again. After one of the “discoveries,” the rockets were handed over to “local authorities.” That is, Hamas.

Unfortunately they were also a time of scandal. An internal investigation found credible claims of mismanagement and Krahenbuhl stepped down in 2019. After the dust settled, the ICRC took him back, and here we are.

At the ICRC, Krahenbuhl will work with the Red Cross president Mirjana Spoljaric. Two years before Krahenbuhl joined UNRWA, Spoljaric was ending her tour there. The revolving door between UNRWA and the Red Cross . . . isn’t limited to the top jobs, either. . . . It’s no wonder, then, that the Red Cross has been such a mammoth disappointment during this conflict, ignoring the Israeli hostages for long stretches and helping Hamas cover up its use of hospitals for war crimes.

How did Qatar, an American ally, become the nerve center of the leading Palestinian jihadist organization? Natalie Ecanow explains.

When Jordan expelled Hamas in 1999, Qatar offered sanctuary to the group, which had already become notorious for using suicide-bombing attacks over the previous decade. . . . Hamas chose to relocate to Syria. However, that arrangement lasted for only a decade. With the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, the terror group found its way back to Qatar.

In 2003, Hamas leaders reportedly convened in Qatar after the IDF attempted to eliminate Hamas’s founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, following a Hamas suicide bombing in Jerusalem that killed seven people, including two American citizens. This episode led to one of the first efforts by Qatar to advocate for its terror proxy.

Thirteen years and five wars between Hamas and Israel later, Qatar’s support for Hamas has not waned. . . . To this day, Qatari officials maintain that the office came at the “request from Washington to establish indirect lines of communication with Hamas.” However, an Obama White House official asserted that there was never any request from Washington. . . . Inexplicably, the United States government continues to rely on Qatar to negotiate for the release of the hostages held by Hamas, even as the regime hosts the terror group’s political elite.

A reckoning is needed between our two countries. Congressional hearings, legislation, executive orders, and other measures to regulate relations between our countries are long overdue.