III

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. RES. 188

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

Nations regional group.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 3, 1998

Mr. MOYNIHAN (for himself, Mr. LUGAR, 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. SMITH of Oregon, Mr.

HATCH, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. REID, Mr. COVERDELL, Mr. ENZI, Mr.

GRAMM, Mr. KEMPTHORNE, Mr. HELMS, Mr. BAUCUS, Ms. COLLINS, Mr.

COATS, Mr. GRAMS, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. DEWINE, Mr.

SMITH of New Hampshire, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. GLENN, Ms. MOSELEYBRAUN, Mr. CONRAD, Mr. WELLSTONE, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. SPECTER,

Mr. HAGEL, Mr. ASHCROFT, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. KERRY, Mr. SESSIONS,

and Mr. FEINGOLD) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

MAY 19, 1998

Reported by Mr. HELMS, without amendment

MAY 22, 1998

Considered and agreed to

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
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SRES 188 ATS

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;

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—
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SRES 188 ATS

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

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

3 appropriate United Nations regional group;

4 (2) the President should instruct the Perma5 nent Representative of the United States to the

6 United Nations to carry out this policy;

7 (3) the United States should—

8 (A) insist that any efforts to reform the

9 United Nations, including the Security Council,

10 also resolve this anomaly; and

11 (B) ensure that the principle of sovereign

12 equality be upheld without exception; and

13 (4) the Secretary of State should submit a re14 port to Congress on the steps taken by the United

15 States, the Secretary General of the United Nations,

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

17 appropriate United Nations regional group.

Æ