AJCommittee Ad Campaign Urges End To Discrimination Against Israel In United Nations System; Iraq, Iran, And Cuba Sit On Security Council While Israel Is Excluded

American Jewish Committee
Thursday, 18 September 1997

The American Jewish Committee will sponsor advertisements in American and international newspapers and Jewish periodicals, asking readers to take part in a mail-in campaign urging Israel's acceptance as an equal member of the United Nations system. Forty-seven years after becoming a UN member, Israel is still not eligible to sit on the Security Council and other key UN bodies. The first of these ads will appear in the International Herald Tribune on September 20 and the New York Times on September 23.

The full-page ad features two vertical columns: One column headline reads "Countries eligible to sit on the United Nations Security Council," and lists below it 184 member countries, including Iran, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria, all sponsors of terrorism, according to the U.S. State Department. The other column headline reads "Countries not eligible to sit on the United Nations Security Council," and below it lists just one nation - Israel.

The text of the ad reads, in part: "Believe it or not, Israel is the only one of 185 member countries ineligible to serve on the United Nations Security Council, the key deliberative group of the world body. Even Iraq is eligible. So is Iran. And so, too, are Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.

"Why is it that these seven nations, all cited by the U.S. State Department as sponsors of terrorism, are eligible to serve rotating terms on the Security Council, yet Israel, a democratic nation and member of the UN since 1950, is not?

"To be eligible for election, a country must belong to a regional group. Every UN member state - from the smallest to the largest - is included in one of the five regional groups. By geography, Israel should be part of the Asian bloc but such countries as Iraq and Saudi Arabia have prevented its entry for decades.

"The UN Charter proclaims 'the equal rights…of nations large and small.' But only Israel among all UN members is denied the right to belong to any regional group. As a temporary measure, Israel has sought acceptance in the West European and Others Group (WEOG), which includes not only the democracies of Western Europe but also Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Turkey and the United States. Here, too, despite the support of several countries, including the U.S., Israel still has not been admitted.

"Thus, without membership in a regional group, Israel can never be elected to serve a term on the Security Council or, for that matter, to the other most important bodies of the UN system, such as the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the World Court, UNICEF and the Commission on Human Rights.

"What should you do? Make yourself heard!"

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org