UK urged not to attend the revival of UN event notorious for Jew hate
BOTH OF Britain’s Jewish leadership bodies have united with two peers to call on the UK to boycott an event commemorating the notorious 2001 “antiracism” conference in Durban which was tainted by antisemitism claims.
Both Israel and the US walked out of the 2001 meeting in Durban, South Africa, over Jew-hate concerns, amid attempts to label Zionism as racist.
The UN will be marking the 20th anniversary of the event and its outcome – the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action – in New York in September.
Several countries, including the US, boycotted revivals of the conference in 2009 and 2011.
A US State Department spokesperson told the Jerusalem Post this week that Washington would not be attending the commemorative events. Australia has followed suit, the Israeli outlet reported.
In exclusive comments to the
JC, peers Baroness Deech and Lord Turnberg called on the UK to “unequivocally” condemn and boycott the September commemoration.
“The inaugural 2001 UN anti-racism conference in Durban, South Africa degenerated into a hate-filled, antisemitic meeting vociferously critical of Israel to the detriment of legitimate anti-racism efforts.
“The parallel conference of NGOs hijacked the antiracism agenda, using it as a forum to harass Israeli and Jewish participants, distribute antisemitic materials, including the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and relentlessly condemn Israel.
“Attendees at the conference compared its anti-Jewish hysteria to ‘1930s Germany’.
“The NGOs were not alone. The governmental side of the conference resulted in the notorious ‘Durban Declaration’ which cast the Jewish state as a racist state and singled out Israel as the only country for specific condemnation,” they said.
When asked to boycott the event by MP Theresa Villiers last month, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the UK would not “support any partisan or political attacks on Israel”.
“In relation to the Durban Declaration and its anniversary, let me reassure my right hon. friend that—as we demonstrated at the Human Rights Council recently on the approach that we took to items 7 and 2—we will not support any partisan or political attacks on Israel.
“I reassure her that the Government are absolutely crystal clear in our condemnation of and opposition to any and all forms of antisemitism,” he told MPs. Meanwhile, the chief executives of the
Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council wrote to Mr Raab requesting that the UK should not attend the Durban event.
The letter was signed by Board of Deputies Interim Chief Executive Michael Wegier together with the JLC co-CEO Claudia Mendoza.
It said: “Despite being a conference against racism, the event is remembered by the international Jewish community as a hostile showcase for open antisemitism.
“Jewish attendees at the conference were subject to intimidation from protesters and antisemitic material, including the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, were distributed within the conference venue.
“The conference itself saw the revival of the ‘Zionism equals racism’ trope. The resulting ‘Durban Declaration’ singled out only Israel for criticism.”
The letter added that the UK walked out of the follow-up Durban II conference, during a racist speech by then Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and stayed away from Durban III.
While urging the UK to continue to champion anti-racism on the world stage, the letter added:
“Tackling antisemitism is a key component of this and events that propagate antisemitism undermine the fight against racism.
“The reasons for the UK staying away from Durban III remain true 10 years on and we are seeking confirmation that the UK will not dignify this year’s commemoration with its attendance.
“This will be a signal that the government takes a firm stand against antiJewish racism.”
The Durban meeting is remembered as a show for antisemitism’