B’nai B’rith International applauds Poland, which currently heads the European Union, for refusing to attend the commemoration of the World Conference against Racism at the United Nations on Sept. 22 in New York. Poland holds the rotating E.U. presidency until this December.

The event will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the initial conference which was held in Durban, South Africa. Though the conference’s initial intention was to address and combat global racism, it was reduced to an anti-Semitic and anti-Israel hate fest, only furthering Israel’s isolation in the international community.

At a review conference in Geneva in 2009, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke, and only furthered the public vilification of Israel. This year’s commemoration, by affirming the original Durban Declaration and Programme of Action that had singled out Israel for implied characterization as racist, can unfortunately be expected to yield similar disdain of the ideals it claims to represent.

Poland joins the ranks of the United States, Israel, Canada, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, in their decision not to attend the conference. B’nai B’rith is encouraged that the head of the European Union has made this laudable decision and hopes that other nations will follow its example in standing together against an event that promotes intolerance and bigotry.

The B’nai B’rith Board of Governors passed a resolution earlier this year urging all nations to reject the prejudiced objectives of the World Conference.