B’nai B’rith International applauds Germany’s decision not to participate in the 10th anniversary commemoration of the World Conference against Racism at the United Nations in September in New York. Writing to The Jerusalem Post, a German spokesman stated that Germany “cannot rule out that the Durban commemoration event in New York will be misused for anti-Semitic statements, as was the case in previous conferences.”

The upcoming event will commemorate the 2001 conference in Durban, South Africa, whose intention was to address and combat racism. It was instead reduced to a racist, anti-Semitic and anti-Israel hate fest, which further isolated the Jewish state in the international community.

The 2009 Durban Review Conference only furthered the vilification of Israel. Germany was among the 10 countries that decided to not attend that conference. By affirming the original Durban Declaration and Programme of Action that had singled out Israel for implied characterization as racist, this event can unfortunately be expected to yield similar disregard of the ideals it claims to represent.

Germany joins the ranks of the United States, Canada, Israel, the Czech Republic, Italy, The Netherlands, Austria and Australia in their decision not to attend the conference. B’nai B’rith calls on other nations to follow their example in standing together against an event that promotes intolerance and bigotry.