Calls for UK to avoid controversial UN anti-racism conference with legacy of antisemitism

Twenty five years after a United Nations conference against racism that developed into a global forum for antisemitism, two UK-based grassroots pro-Israel organisation are calling on the British government to confirm it will not participate in its anniversary event in New York on 28 September.

Durban 25 will commemorate the United Nations’ 2001 World Conference Against Racism.

That year, in a signed declaration just one week before the September 11 terrorist attacks, Israel was the only UN member state singled out by name in a document intended to combat global racism, claiming it was an alleged perpetrator of racism and singling out “the plight of Palestinians under foreign occupation”.

It laid the groundwork for what non governmental organisation UN Watch calls The Durban strategy: “exploiting the language of universal human rights to wage a coordinated campaign to demonize and boycott the Jewish state”, which “continues to be used throughout the world today to spread antisemitism disguised as anti-Zionism.”

UN Watch, which monitors the actions of the United Nations, describes the 2001 “inflammatory speeches against Israel” as “ubiquitous”, recalling that “PLO chairman Yasser Arafat told conference delegates of the ‘ugliness’ of ‘Israeli racist policies and practices against the Palestinian people’, whilst Cuban dictator Fidel Castro spoke of “the dreadful genocide perpetrated, at this very moment, against our Palestinian brothers.”

Israel and the US subsequently left the conference.

The UK stayed away from Durban anniversary events in 2011 (Durban III) and 2021 (Durban IV) because of longstanding concerns over antisemitism but has yet to confirm it will do so this year.

In a call to action to supporters, We Believe in Israel and the National Jewish Assembly claim the event “became the worst international manifestation of antisemitism in the post-war period.”

A letter to its supporters urging them to join the campaign reads: “The original Durban Conference was intended to be an international gathering against racism. Instead, it became associated with some of the most divisive and hostile rhetoric directed against Israel and the Jewish people. Twenty-five years later, Britain faces a clear choice.

“At a time when antisemitism remains a serious challenge for Jewish communities in Britain and around the world, the UK should not lend its credibility to a process with such a deeply troubling legacy. This is not about left or right. It is not about party politics. It is about principle.

“Britain should stand firmly against antisemitism, reject the delegitimisation and demonisation of Israel, and make clear that international institutions dedicated to combating racism must never themselves become platforms for prejudice.”

The calls to the government for clarification come as Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced, days before Rosh Hashanah, punitive sanctions aimed at Israel settlements in the West Bank and accused the Israeli government of enabling “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians.