A Look Back at the Infamous U.N. Conference on Racism and What it Means for Antisemitism Today

Join B’nai B’rith, in partnership with JNS, on Tuesday, Sept. 1, for an important live program, Durban at 25: Seeds of Hate. We will connect the dots from the shocking display of hatred at a 2001 U.N. conference to the antisemitism, anti-Zionism and violence we are witnessing around the world in 2026.

The shocking realities of the explosion in antisemitism and anti-Israel bigotry today reverberate from an infamous event 25 years ago: the United Nations World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa.

B’nai B’rith—the world’s oldest and most widely known Jewish organization—brought the largest Jewish delegation to the Durban conference. And, ultimately, we led the Jewish walk-out from the meetings. Since then, we have organized major counterprogramming on the anniversaries of the 2001 conference—still celebrated by the United Nations.

Durban at 25: Seeds of Hate will examine the lasting and harmful effects of the 2001 U.N. World Conference Against Racism, the Durban Declaration’s legacy, and the antisemitism it helped legitimize.

This program features a variety of leaders and experts from around the world, including:

Moderator: ​B’nai B’rith Honorary CEO and Senior Advisor Daniel S. Mariaschin

Featuring: ​

• B’nai B’rith CEO Evan R. Bernstein​
• ​B’nai B’rith Honorary President Richard D. Heideman, who led the delegation in 2001
• ​Phyllis Greenberg Heideman, President, International March of the Living and a 2001 delegate
• ​Ambassador Danny Danon, Israel’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations
• ​Ambassador Jeff Bartos, U.S. Representative for U.N. Management and Reform
• ​Ambassador Tova Herzl, Israel’s former Ambassador to South Africa  
• ​Michal Cotler-Wunsh, CEO of the International Legal Forum, former Israeli Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and former Member of Knesset
• ​David J. Michaels, B’nai B’rith Director of United Nations and Intercommunal Affairs 
• ​Eduardo Kohn, B’nai B’rith Director of Latin American Affairs and a 2001 delegate
• ​Izabella Tabarovsky, a Fellow at the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, the Z3 Institute for Jewish Priorities, and the Comper Center for the Study of Antisemitism and Racism at the University of Haifa

Watch Live: Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026 

 

7 a.m. Seattle, Washington

8 a.m. Mexico City

9 a.m. Panama City

10 a.m. New York

11 a.m. Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro

3 p.m. London

4 p.m. Durban, Geneva, Brussels, Paris

5 p.m. Jerusalem

Midnight, Sept. 2: Melbourne