Germany Supports Israel's Acceptance Into Regional Group At The United Nations

American Jewish Committee
Thursday, 24 September 1998

At a meeting yesterday with American Jewish Committee leaders, German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel informed the group that Germany supports Israel's inclusion in the West European and Others Group (WEOG) at the United Nations. Germany stands with the U.S, Australia, Canada, and Norway in seeking to resolve a long-standing injustice at the UN by calling for Israel to be treated equally with other member states.

The discussion with Minister Kinkel was one of 45 diplomatic meetings AJC will hold over the next two weeks with world leaders, in conjunction with the opening of the 53rd UN General Assembly, to discuss issues of concern to the Jewish community, including the threat of non-conventional weapons, the challenge of international terrorism, peaceful conflict resolution and discriminatory treatment of Israel at the UN.

Regarding the UN, Israel is the only one of 185 member countries ineligible to serve on the UN Security Council and other deliberative bodies. To be eligible, a country must belong to one of five regional groups. Israel is the only nation denied the right to belong to any of these groups. Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria -- all nations cited by the U.S. State Department as sponsors of terrorism -- do belong to regional groups and can thus hold seats on the Security Council and elsewhere.

Although Israel, by geography, belongs in the Asian group, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and others have blocked Israel's admission. That leaves WEOG, since its members include Australia, Canada, and the U.S., which, like Israel, are non-European countries. But WEOG is dominated by the 15-member European Union which has to date refused to act.

Last year, AJC began a major public campaign to end discrimination against Israel in the UN by pressing for its temporary acceptance into WEOG. This year, on September 19-20 and September 23, AJC ran full-page ads in the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times, respectively. The ads, which have also run in other leading national and international newspapers and periodicals, ask readers to take an active role in the AJC campaign by sending mail-in coupons to the representatives of the "troika" -- the current, immediate past, and future presidencies of the European Union (Austria, the United Kingdom and Germany, respectively) -- urging Israel's inclusion in WEOG. These messages can also be accessed and sent via e-mail through AJC's website at www.ajc.org. To date, tens of thousands of individuals have responded.

Since AJC launched this initiative, numerous encouraging developments have occurred, including remarks by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in March 1998 calling for "the normalization of Israel's status within the United Nations;" recent passage by a voice vote in the U.S. Senate of a resolution, sponsored by Senators Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Richard G. Lugar and co-sponsored by 55 Senators, supporting Israel's acceptance in WEOG; and a similar initiative, sponsored by Representatives Steven R. Rothman and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and co-sponsored by 111 Representatives, pending in the House of Representatives.

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