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International
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R I E F S |
April 2004
OSCE – The Fight Against
Anti-Semitism
The Office for Security and Cooperation in Europe is the largest regional
security organization in the world with fifty-five participating states
from Europe, Central Asia, and North America. Its purpose is to aid in
conflict prevention and crisis management and to deal with issues such as
arms control, preventive diplomacy, human rights, and democratization.
With headquarters are located in Vienna and other offices around the
world, it is the third most important European organization, after NATO
and the European Union.
In 2003, the OSCE held its first-ever conference on anti-Semitism in
Vienna, a landmark event that focused attention on the rising trend of
anti-Semitism in Europe. A result of that meeting was a decision to hold a
follow-up conference addressing the particular programs and practices that
would help prevent and put an end to anti-Semitism, such as monitoring
anti-Semitic attacks, tolerance and training programs, and legislative
initiatives.
The upcoming OSCE Conference on anti-Semitism will take place in Berlin on
April 28-29, 2004. Participants will include governmental and
non-governmental representatives from the OSCE as well as NGO’s. Secretary
of State Colin Powell will participate in the Conference as will other
foreign ministers and some heads of state
including President Moshe Katzav and President Rau of Germany. Former New
York City Mayor Ed Koch will head the U.S. delegation which includes U.S.
Senator George Voinovich of Ohio, Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), and
Congressman Ben Cardin (D-MD) and five Public Members, among them IPA/OU
Director of International and Communal Affairs Betty Ehrenberg. Delegates
will have opportunities to address different sessions at the conference.
Ms. Ehrenberg will speak to the issue of contemporary anti-Semitism,
focusing on anti-Semitic violence and attitudes emanating from Muslim
populations of Europe who have adopted a radical Islamist ideology. The
main goal of the Conference is to see that concrete steps will be taken by
OSCE member states and measures adopted that will indeed help stop
anti-Semitism.
Anti-Semitism Legislation
The IPA/OU is asking all our members to support a very important piece of
legislation recently introduced by U.S. Senator George Voinovich (R-OH)
called the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004 (S.2292). This bill
would require the State Department to submit an annual report to the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House International Relations
Committee on acts of Anti-Semitism worldwide and would describe the nature
of these anti-Semitic acts and record the responses of the governments,
including actions taken. Actions might include measures to protect their
respective Jewish communities and their rights to religious freedom as
well as efforts to promote tolerance and anti-bias education. The bill
also urges the United States to continue to strongly support efforts to
highlight anti-Semitism through its relationships with other countries as
well as international bodies. S.2292 would take past resolutions passed by
the Congress on anti-Semitism further in its demand to not only document
anti-Semitism but to take concrete steps that would help stamp it out.
Kindly call your senators and ask them to support and help pass S.2292,
Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004. It is not enough that statements
against anti-Semitism are made - foreign governments must also take
explicit measures to actually combat it. Senators can be called at
202-224-3121 – ask for the office of your senator.
Israel’s Security Fence
The IPA/OU is promoting two Congressional initiatives supporting the right
of Israel to construct a security fence that will help prevent the
infiltration of terrorists. Emphasizing Israel’s obligation to defend her
citizens, the resolutions condemn a decision by the UN to involve the
International Criminal Court in this issue. Representatives Mike Pence
(R-IN) and Shelley Berkley (D-NV) and Gary Ackerman (D-NY) have introduced
two resolutions criticizing the ICJ’s involvement in the security fence as
an attempt to circumvent the peace process, the first step of which must
be an end to Palestinian terrorism. The resolutions state that the
security fence is a way for Israel to fight the unrelenting Palestinian
terrorism of the past three and a half years, during which more than 130
Palestinian bombers have entered Israel from the West Bank, killing
hundreds of innocent Israelis and maiming thousands more. Israel, in
effect, has been forced into building a security fence – if there would be
no terrorism on the part of the Palestinians, there would be no need for
the fence.
Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Hillary Clinton
(D-NY), and Gordon Smith (R-OR) are circulating a letter in the Senate
supporting Israel’s right to self defense and urging UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan to withdraw his support for involving the ICJ.
Please call your Representatives at (202) 225-3121 and ask them to support
the Pence and Ackerman resolutions (H.Con.Res.390). Call Senators at (202)
224-3121 and ask them to sign the Schumer/Hatch/Clinton/ Smith letter.
Iran’s Pursuit of Nuclear Weapons
Among the rogue regimes in the Middle East, Iran remains the foremost
threat to the United States and Israel. Iran is accelerating its efforts
to acquire missiles and weapons of mass destruction. In a recent report,
the International Atomic Energy Agency detailed eighteen years of
deception by Iran which concealed from the IAEA that it has been enriching
uranium and separating plutonium – activities whose sole purpose is to
create atomic bombs. Iran has systematically violated its commitment under
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to foreswear the pursuit of nuclear
weapons and to report all its nuclear activities to the IAEA.
Iran has been developing missiles that can strike any point in Israel and
will be able to deliver payloads of unconventional weapons. Transfers of
technology and expertise from Russia, China, and North Korea are enabling
Iran to accelerate these programs as well as modernize its armed forces.
Iran is also developing the means to wage germ warfare despite having
signed the Chemical Weapons Convention. Several years ago, Congress passed
ILSA sanctions which have served to limit the funds available to Iran for
its WMD programs which otherwise would be evolving even more rapidly.
Iran remains the chief sponsor and financial backer of the Palestinian
terrorist organizations operating in the West Bank and Gaza. It supplies
Hezbollah with advanced rockets, including long range Katyusha rockets
capable of striking deep to Israel.
Resolutions have been introduced in both houses of Congress expressing
deep concern regarding Iran’s failure to adhere to nuclear safeguard
agreements. The resolutions urge the president and the international
community to take all appropriate measures to prevent Iran from acquiring
a nuclear device. A nuclear warhead in the hands of Iran would pose a
great threat to the United States and to our allies in the Middle East,
including Israel.
The Senate resolution, S.Con.Res. 81, was introduced by Senators John Kyl
(R-AZ) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and currently has 59 co-sponsors. The
House version, H.Con.Res.398, was introduced by Representatives Henry Hyde
(R-IL) and Tom Lantos (D-CA) (which updates a previous version). The house
bill calls upon all signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
to use all appropriate means to deter and prevent Iran from acquire
nuclear weapons. The Senate resolution expresses the “deep concern of
Congress regarding the failure of the Islamic Republic of Iran to adhere
to its obligations under a safeguards agreement with the International
Atomic Energy Agency, and the engagement by Iran in activities that appear
to be designed to develop nuclear weapons.”
Please write or call your Senators and Representatives and urge them to
co-sponsor and help pass these resolutions in order to help prevent Iran’s
efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Letters and calls to Senators should
refer to S.Con.Res. 81, and contacts to Representatives should refer to
H.Con.Res. 398. Senators can be reached at 202-224-3121. Representatives
can be called at 202-225-3121.
Insurance Legislation and Practices
Many citizens who have traveled in the past to Israel or the other
twenty-six countries on the U.S. State Department current “Travel
Warnings” list have been denied insurance coverage or have been subject to
higher premiums or exclusions. In response to this, a bill has been
introduced in the House that would prohibit life insurance companies from
using a person’s previous lawful travel experiences as a basis for denying
life insurance policies. Representatives Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), Barney Frank
(D-MA), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), and Peter Deutsch (D-FL), among others
introduced the Life Insurance Anti-Discrimination in Travel Act, H.R.3927.
This bill would make it unlawful to deny, cancel, change terms, rates, or
conditions of life insurance coverage based on lawful past travel. A
similar bill was unanimously passed in the New York State Assembly by
Speaker Sheldon Silver and legislation has been introduced in other states
as well. These are important efforts that are intended to draw the
attention of the insurance industry to business practices that are of
significant concern to our community.
A violation of the terms of this legislation would constitute and unfair
or deceptive act or practice pursuant to the applicable FTC regulations.
The bill does not cover other forms of insurance including property and
casualty, health, and worker’s compensation, nor does it cover denials of
insurance based on future travel.
The OU and Speaker Silver have led past successful initiatives to counter
this kind of discrimination when an OU officer was denied coverage by an
insurance company on the basis of travel to Israel. Please help support
and pass H.R.3927, the Life Insurance Anti-Discrimination in Travel Act.
Representatives can be contacted at 202-225-3121. For more information,
please call us at 212-613-8124.
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