AJC Applauds Italy, The Netherlands for Decisions to Skip UN Durban Commemoration

NEW YORK, July 24, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC applauded Italy and The Netherlands for deciding to skip the UN Commemoration of the Durban World Conference Against Racism in New York in September.

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"Italy and the Netherlands are doing the right thing by refusing to lend legitimacy to another effort to use a UN forum to bash Israel," said AJC Executive Director David Harris.

"We applaud their principle and courage in standing up to the automatic majority at the UN that finds every opportunity to unfairly single out Israel, and thereby undermines the UN's founding principle of equal treatment for all member states," Harris continued. "We encourage other governments to join with Italy and The Netherlands. The Durban conferences, whose original noble intent was to combat racism, have been tragically hijacked by the anti-Israel bloc. No well-intentioned country should turn a blind eye to that stark reality."

As Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, explaining his government's decision, said, "The Durban Process has been transformed from a forum for debate on and coordination of international action against racism, discrimination and xenophobia, into a tribunal for accusations against Israel."

For the same reasons, the Czech Republic announced Friday it would not participate. Canada and the United States, together with Israel, had previously withdrawn from the event's preparations.

In 2009, ten countries laudably opted not to participate in Durban II for the very same reasons -- Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, and the U.S.

In 2001, at the original conference, the U.S. and Israel did not participate after it turned into an anti-Israel hatefest. AJC's Harris had been named by the U.S. Government as a member of the official delegation, led by Secretary of State Colin Powell, to Durban, but, of course, did not attend because of the American decision.

Earlier this year, AJC appealed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to ensure that "the debacles of the 2001 and 2009 Durban conferences are not repeated in 2011."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee