When you become the butt of a "Saturday Night Live" joke, perhaps it's time for self-examination.

Jimmy Fallon asked his SNL audience why the ICRC is so worried about these fighters' living conditions.

"They're suicide bombers," he said. "They hate living conditions."

ICRC is giving the word "humanitarian" a bad name.

While the Red Cross is busy waving the humanitarian banner on behalf of the Taliban and Al Queda, the Red Cross ignores its own immorality.

For the ICRC is guilty of rank discrimination, based on religious prejudice -- and plain old anti-Semitism.

It is officially Judenrein. (Editor's note: many survivors are still angry that the ICRC did not extend its protection to Jewish prisoners held in Nazi exermination camps during World War II).

Why?

Believe it or not, the official explanation is that because Magen David Adom, which is active in the only Jewish state in the world, won't use a Christian cross as its symbol.

In Hebrew, "Magen" means, "shield." "Adom" means "red." "The Red Shield of David," is how the name could be translated. "David" being King David, who 3,000 years ago, ruled Israel from the Mediterranean well into what today is Jordan.

He, incidentally, was the man who bought the threshing floor on a mountain in Jerusalem on which his son, Solomon, would build the Holy Temple. And it was David who made Jerusalem the capital of Israel.

The "Magen David," also is called, "the Star of David," for it is the six-pointed star that became a symbol of the Jewish people.

The ICRC apparently simply can't stomach a Jewish symbol on an ambulance.

But get this: Shortly after the ICRC voted in a secret ballot in 1949 not to admit MDA into its country club, the ICRC welcomed upwards of 25 emergency societies from Arab and Moslem countries.

Which, just like Israel's MDA, don't use a cross as their symbol.

They use a Crescent, the symbol of Islam.

Some 187 countries are full ICRC members.

Only Israel isn't allowed to participate in the ICRC. Only Israel has been asked to change its symbol.

Rather than admit an, oh my gosh, "Jewish" emblem into its ranks (isn't there something medieval in this?), it is thinking of devising a third accepted emblem.

This one would have no religious significance whatsoever. It would be introduced for the use of Israel. All right, ICRC seems to be saying, if we have to have Jews in our club, lets make sure no one knows they are there.

But more than that, there are other places in the world, where neither a cross nor a crescent are appropriate. And during events, such as the fighting in Bosnia, the cross or the crescent were viewed as enemies, depending on which turf the ambulance happened to be on at the moment.

So, ICRC does need a neutral emblem.

But it shouldn't arrive at MDA's expense.

The federation's name might more appropriately be changed to the International Red Cross, Red Crescent and Magen David Adom Societies -- with all three emblems used, plus a fourth neutral emblem for wherever it might needed.

Dr. Moshe Melloul, MDA president, told me, "We agree to a new emblem, if we can use our emblem as we do now and at its present size in Israel and also outside of Israel with permission of the host country."

"It's a political problem," he continued. "We suggest that we be accepted as a full member with full rights to vote as any other nation, and postpone the problem of a third emblem to a later date."

The matter of the emblem must be voted on by the 80 nations who signed the Geneva Convention.

You've heard lots about the Fourth Geneva Convention lately. That's that agreement that is based on World War II and doesn't recognize that war has changed.

The American Red Cross has no problem with the Jewish symbol. At its meetings, the cross, the crescent and the star appear.

"We hope to sign an agreement with American Red Cross as a sister society," Dr. Melloul said. "We hope that will put more pressure on the ICRC."

Just what would the MDA would get out of full ICRC membership?

"First of all," he answered, "it's immoral that 178 countries are members, but one, Israel, is kept out. It's important for Israel to be represented in all international organizations.

"Second, the ICRC has a lot of power. It's an international movement that can intervene in many places. The unity of this movement is important for the world, not only for one country."

That clout could have helped in tracking down the fate of the three Israeli soldiers kidnapped from Israel by Hizbullah in October 2000 and now presumed dead.

MDA might also get additional financial support, but Dr. Melloul stressed that that isn't a major consideration in its request for membership.

ICRC could get much from MDA, perhaps more than MDA would get from ICRC, except equal standing in the international family of emergency societies.

"We receive requests for help from other emergency societies all the time,' Melloul said. "They want our experience in emergency medical services training or in our blood services."

MDA has participated in rescue and disaster relief operations in the past three years in Turkey, Kosovo, India, Ethiopia and Eritrea - all areas with large Muslim populations. Not only didn't the sky fall, but in all places, the recipients expressed great appreciation.

As an ICRC member, MDA would run emergency medical technician training courses for Palestinians and establish regional blood and bone marrow banks

Ironically, for all those Israel haters in the ICRC, Magen David Adom and the Palestinian and Jordanian Red Crescent societies work together all the time. It simply is routine for them, according to Melloul.

Furthermore, MDA won an international award from Norway for its work with the Palestinian Red Crescent.

However, the ICRC has recently gotten a big nudge to try to solve the problem. That nudge comes from the United States.

Thanks to Bernadine Healy, the recently ousted chief of the organization, the American Red Cross has withheld its dues to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies since 1999 to protest the ICRC's anti-Semitic policy.

And the American Red Cross's dues come to 25 percent of the federation's budget.

In the summer of 2000, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution calling on the ICRC to admit MDA. The resolution quoted from an American Red Cross statement that called Magen David's exclusion "an injustice of the highest order."

Last summer, Senators Peter Fitzgerald (R-Illinois) and Hillary Clinton (D-New York) circulated a petition that gathered 53 senators' signatures that was sent to Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Red Cross.

The petition said that MDA "should not be required to give up or diminish its use of its emblem as a condition for immediate and full membership in the movement."

It said that the red star of David symbol should be accorded the same recognition under international law as the Red Cross and the Red Crescent.

A spokesman for Sen. Fitzgerald noted that "Magen David Adom is the only national emergency relief society to be excluded from the world's largest humanitarian network."

And in December, 250 state legislators from New York to California and Minnesota to Florida sent at letter to the American Red Cross chairman demanding thae the ARC help secure Israel's admission into the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

It isn't hard to guess that the Muslim countries and those beholding to them, plus several European countries are blocking MDA's admission. Some threaten to quit if Israel is accepted.

Is this "humanitarian?"

Many European countries seem to tolerate official anti-Semitism. For example, Switzerland, Belgium and France support the Muslim countries' position, to keep Israel out of the ICRC.

However, taking a stand against bigotry, British and Dutch Red Cross members have begun to be supportive of Israel.

ICRC now is considering the matter.