ZOA Worked Extensively
on Behalf of the Bill

NEW YORK – The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has strongly praised the House International Relations Committee for passing the Syria Accountability Act, legislation that will impose sanctions on the terrorist Syrian regime.

The ZOA has worked extensively on behalf of the Syria Accountability Act since the bill’s conception. The ZOA’s director of Capitol Hill affairs, Sarah Stern, and her deputy Ben Lerner, waged an intensive and prolonged effort to educate Members of Congress about the importance of the legislation. The ZOA also praises AIPAC for their critical and considerable efforts on behalf of this legislation.

The Act, H.R. 1828, has 286 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives. The lead sponsors are U.S. Representatives Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL).

The bill provides a menu of six different diplomatic and economic sanctions for the President to impose on Syria if the Syrians continue occupying Lebanon, sponsoring terrorism, and developing chemical and biological weapons. The bill permits the president to waive four of the six sanctions if he deems it in the interests of national security to do so; but it requires him to impose at least two of the sanctions.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “Representatives Engel and Ros-Lehtinen deserve the highest praise for their leadership of this legislation, which is an important first step in the fight against Syrian-sponsored terrorism, Syria’s illegal occupation of Lebanon, and Syria’s development of weapons of mass destruction. The ZOA praises the Bush administration’s decision to refrain from opposing the Syria Accountability Act. It is a welcome indication of the administration’s clear recognition that Syria”s pro-terrorist behavior must not be ignored and must be part of the U.S. war against all terrorism.”