To: Officers, Rabbis, Synagogue Leaders, Info Net

From: Richard B. Stone, Chairman
Betty Ehrenberg, Director, International and Communal Affairs

Re: Equality for Israel at the United Nations Act of 2000

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED

The OU/IPA is urging all our members to support a bill currently being considered in Congress, the Equality for Israel at the United Nations Act of 2000 (H.R. 3405). Passage of this would ensure congressional approval for Israel’s request to be admitted to the Western European and Others Regional Group (WEOG) at the United Nations.

Since its admission to the U.N. in 1949, Israel has been denied acceptance into any regional group which is a prerequisite to admission to the Security Council and other important U.N. bodies. Israel can not exercise its full right as a member of the United Nations and can not contribute its expertise and knowledge through the many committees to which it’s denied membership. For example, although Israel is a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, Israel can not fully participate in the institutions established at the Hague to implement the CWC because they are organized along the U.N.’s regional groups to which Israel does not belong.

It is incomprehensible that Israel- a member of the U.N. for more than fifty years- has not been accepted into any regional group even though states admitted to the U.N. in the past couple of years have already been accepted into a group.

Israel is the only country that continues to be denied membership in a regional group and has therefore applied for membership into the Western European and Others Group. This group is not drawn along geographic lines but is comprised of Western-style democracies and consists of Western European nations, the United States, Canada and New Zealand among others. Membership in the WEOG group would be appropriate for Israel.

To help Israel gain acceptance into the WEOG, the OU/IPA is asking you to write to your Representatives to support the Equality for Israel at the United Nations Act of 2000 (H.R. 3405). OU.ORG has provided a sample letter which you may choose to use or adapt when you contact your Representative at the following address:

Representative________
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Email addresses for your Representatives may be obtained by calling their offices at 202-225-3121 and requesting the office of the Representative or by visiting the Congress web site. Remember, every letter to your Representatives lets them know what issues you care and about and holds them accountable.