B’nai B’rith urges U.N. member states to vote against the General Assembly resolution mandating “commemoration” of the 10th anniversary of the 2001 World Conference Against Racism, whose Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) cited Israel alone for implied characterization as racist and whose non-governmental organization (NGO) forum and outside street scenes saw horrific expressions of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.The draft resolution, scheduled for a vote on Dec. 20, calls for a high-level event that would feature addresses by heads of state and government, to commemorate the DDPA. This program would take place during the opening session of next year’s General Assembly in New York, in close proximity to the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The vitriolic attacks made against Jews and the Jewish State during the 2001 conference, and again in 2009, when the Durban Review Conference in Geneva featured the hate speech against Israel and Holocaust denial of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, prove that these events do exactly that which they purport to act against: inciting racism.
“Such a racist and venomous conference should not be celebrated, but repudiated,” B’nai B’rith International President Dennis W. Glick said. “The Durban legacy is one of hate and discrimination, and should be remembered as such.”
B’nai B’rith International mobilized the largest Jewish delegation to monitor and respond to the anti-Semitic attacks at Durban, and encouraged many countries to walk out during Ahmadinejad’s anti-Israel diatribe at the Durban Review Conference in Geneva in 2009.
“The impact of celebrating such a destructively discriminatory conference, and its effect of producing widespread and violent attacks against Jews, is incalculable.” B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said. “Any reaffirmation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action is not compatible with a genuine fight against racism.”
B’nai B’rith praises Canada for declaring that it will not participate in any commemoration.
The vitriolic attacks made against Jews and the Jewish State during the 2001 conference, and again in 2009, when the Durban Review Conference in Geneva featured the hate speech against Israel and Holocaust denial of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, prove that these events do exactly that which they purport to act against: inciting racism.
“Such a racist and venomous conference should not be celebrated, but repudiated,” B’nai B’rith International President Dennis W. Glick said. “The Durban legacy is one of hate and discrimination, and should be remembered as such.”
B’nai B’rith International mobilized the largest Jewish delegation to monitor and respond to the anti-Semitic attacks at Durban, and encouraged many countries to walk out during Ahmadinejad’s anti-Israel diatribe at the Durban Review Conference in Geneva in 2009.
“The impact of celebrating such a destructively discriminatory conference, and its effect of producing widespread and violent attacks against Jews, is incalculable.” B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said. “Any reaffirmation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action is not compatible with a genuine fight against racism.”
B’nai B’rith praises Canada for declaring that it will not participate in any commemoration.