III

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. RES. 186

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding Israeli membership in a United

Nations regional group.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 27, 1998

Mr. MOYNIHAN (for himself, Mr. D’AMATO, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. TORRICELLI,

Mr. HOLLINGS, Mr. ROBB, Mr. SANTORUM, Mr. KYL, Mr. AKAKA, Mr.

LIEBERMAN, Mr. ALLARD, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. GRASSLEY,

Mr. WYDEN, Mr. FAIRCLOTH, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. KOHL, Mr. MACK, Ms.

MIKULSKI, Mr. CRAIG, Mr. BURNS, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr. DODD, Mr.

DORGAN, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, Mr. SMTH of Oregon, Mr. HATCH, Mr.

LAUTENBERG, Mr. REID, Mr. COVERDELL, Mr. ENZI, Mr. GRAMM, Mr.

KEMPTHORNE, Mr. HELMS, Mr. BAUCUS, Ms. COLLINS, and Mr. COATS)

submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee

on Foreign Relations

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding Israeli

membership in a United Nations regional group.

Whereas, of the 185 member states of the United Nations,

only the State of Israel is ineligible to sit on the Security

Council, the Economic and Social Council, or any other

United Nations committee;

Whereas the State of Israel was created in response to a

1947 General Assembly resolution and joined the United

Nations in 1949;
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•SRES 186 IS

Whereas the members of the United Nations have organized

themselves according to regional groups since 1946;

Whereas eligibility for election to the rotating seats of the Security Council, or other United Nations councils, commissions, or committees, is only available to countries belonging to a regional group;

Whereas Israel has remained a member of the United Nations despite being subjected to deliberate attacks which

aimed to place the legitimacy of the State of Israel in

question;

Whereas this anachronistic Cold War isolation of Israel at the

United Nations continues;

Whereas barring a member of the United Nations from entering a regional group is inimical to the principles under

which the United Nations was founded, namely, ‘‘to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect

for the principle of equal rights . . .’’; and

Whereas Israel is a vibrant democracy, which shares the values, goals, and interests of the ‘‘Western European and

Others Group’’, a regional group which includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States:

Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that—

2 (1) it should be the policy of the United States

3 to support the State of Israel’s efforts to enter an

4 appropriate United Nations regional group;

5 (2) the President should instruct the Perma6 nent Representative of the United States to the

7 United Nations to carry out this policy;
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•SRES 186 IS

1 (3) the United States should—

2 (A) insist that any effort to reform the

3 United Nations, including the Security Council,

4 also resolve this anomaly; and

5 (B) ensure that the principle of sovereign

6 equality be upheld without exception; and

7 (4) the Secretary of State should submit a re8 port to Congress on the steps taken by the United

9 States, the Secretary General of the United Nations,

10 and others to help secure Israel’s membership in an

11 appropriate United Nations regional group.

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