[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 18 (Tuesday, January 29, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S748-S749]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 68. Mr. INHOFE submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 
him to the bill S. 1, to make improvements to certain defense and 
security assistance provisions and to authorize the appropriation of 
funds to Israel, to reauthorize the United States-Jordan Defense 
Cooperation Act of 2015, and to halt the wholesale slaughter of the 
Syrian people, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the 
table; as follows:

       At the appropriate place, insert the following:

[[Page S749]]

  


     SEC. ___. SENSE OF SENATE ON FORMAL GRANT BY THE AFRICAN 
                   UNION OF OBSERVER STATUS FOR ISRAEL.

       (a) Findings.--The Senate makes the following findings;
       (1) Israel enjoyed observer status in the predecessor 
     organization to the African Union known as the Organization 
     of African Unity until its dissolution in 2002.
       (2) The late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi blocked Israel 
     from obtaining observer status at the African Union in 2002.
       (3) Israel, in the span of a few decades, has emerged as a 
     developed nation and therefore offers an example of a path to 
     economic progress for developing countries.
       (4) Israel has long been an active and valuable partner to 
     many African nations, cultivating strong numerous bilateral 
     relationships across the continent.
       (b) Sense of Senate.--The Senate--
       (1) encourages heightened cooperation between Israel and 
     African nations, particularly in areas that are significant 
     in progress towards the implementation of the Sustainable 
     Development Goals;
       (2) expects that the granting of observer status to Israel 
     by the African Union will help enable such cooperation to 
     develop between Israel and the African Union; and
       (3) calls for the African Union to immediately accept the 
     petition of Israel for observer status.
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