World Jewish Congress Applauds Senate Passage of Dodd/Shelby Iran Sanctions Bill (S.2799)

NEW YORK, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- World Jewish Congress-United States applauded the passage by the US Senate of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Accountability and Divestment Act of 2009 (S.2799) by unanimous consent. As Iran today poses a clear and present danger not only to Israel and the Jewish people but to the West as a whole and to Europe in particular, this groundbreaking legislation clearly illustrates that the threat of the Iranian dictatorship must be taken seriously and not be dismissed. Having recognized very early on that this growing threat has been clearly under-assessed and the capability of Iran to obtain nuclear capability is more imminent than previously thought, World Jewish Congress thanks the leadership of the Senate, most notably Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), Senator Even Bayh (D-IN), Senator John Kyle (R-AZ), Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), for their outstanding leadership that resulted in the unanimous support for this historic bill.

Rabbi Marc Schneier, Chairman of World Jewish Congress-United States said, "The importance of this legislation cannot be underestimated. This legislation seeks to reinforce and increase economic pressure on Iran in order to attempt to dissuade them from pursuing what would be a devastating outcome for not only the Middle East, but to Europe and beyond. As the World Jewish Congress-United States takes every opportunity in meetings at all levels with representatives of local and foreign governments in order to emphasize this danger, the United States Senate has set an example for what needs to be done internationally in order to unify against this growing threat."

"We thank the Senate leaders for taking this courageous step as did the members of the House a few weeks ago," said Betty Ehrenberg, Executive Director of World Jewish Congress, North America. "This legislation which contains the major components of the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (IRPSA) will help make the case to companies around the world including the energy giants of Switzerland, Austria, France, and Poland to discourage these large international corporations from investing in Iran's oil and gas industry whose profits serve to fuel its nuclear ambitions."

World Jewish Congress-United States encourages its constituents to thank members of the Senate for passing the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Accountability and Divestment Act of 2009 (S.2799) and congratulate them for supporting a vital piece of legislation that sends a strong and clear message not only to Iran for continuing its mad race to obtain nuclear weapons capability but to the international community and business community as well to stop enabling Iran's nuclear efforts with its investments.

SOURCE World Jewish Congress