Happy, Healthy New Year 5770

Ronald S. Lauder
WJC President

Dear Friends,

As the period of the chagim approaches, it is a good time to reflect on the events of the past year.

Unfortunately, this year has not been a good one on many fronts: the global financial crisis has devastated the lives of many, Israel’s integrity is ever more under attack, the path to peace in the Middle East seems even more difficult, and there has been a surge in anti-Semitism around the globe. The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, shows no sign of retreating from his anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and Holocaust denying positions, whilst Iran continues to defy UN sanctions and futher develop nuclear weapons.

The World Jewish Congress has redoubled its efforts to raise awareness of the real and imminent threat that Ahmadinejad’s Iran poses to the world. To that end we have launched a worldwide campaign, in cooperation with our affiliated communities, on Iran. This campaign includes a coordinated advocacy effort, meetings with politicians, demonstrations, and a petition to the UN members requesting that they walk out on Ahmadinejad when he starts spouting his usual hateful rhetoric at the UN General Assembly later this month.

I would ask you to please join this campaign, by signing the petition below, and by distributing this as widely as possible within your communities.

At the UN Durban Review Conference in Geneva earlier this year, by pooling our resources and working together, we achieved a significant success in showing Ahmadinejad that his condemnation of Israel is not being tolerated. Let us, once again, ensure that he is shunned at the UN in New York.

Wishing you, your families, and your communities, a Happy, Healthy New Year 5770.

Ronald S. Lauder
WJC President