The Perils of Global Intolerance: the United Nations & "Durban III"

NEW YORK, Aug. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Hudson Institute and the Touro College Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust today announced an historic conference targeting manifestations of racism, anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance at the United Nations. The conference will coincide with the highly controversial UN event known as “Durban III.”  Organizers were galvanized, according to Anne Bayefsky, a Senior Fellow of the Hudson Institute and Director of the Touro College Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, after learning that “Americans will be mourning the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001 at the same time as the United Nations will appear to be legitimizing the kind of intolerance that drives terrorism itself.”

"Durban III" is intended to "commemorate" the 10th anniversary of the UN-sponsored anti-Semitic hatefest that took place in Durban, South Africa in 2001. The final product of that conference – the Durban Declaration – charged Israel with racism, the only one of the UN's 192 state members so accused.  Led by Congressman and Holocaust survivor Tom Lantos, the United States – along with Israel – walked out of Durban I in disgust.

According to conference organizer, Anne Bayefsky, a Senior Fellow of the Hudson Institute and Director of the Touro College Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, "The Durban conference legitimized hate speech on a global scale." At the widely-perceived racist "anti-racism" conference, the streets were filled with signs such as "for the liberation of Quds machine guns based on faith and Islam must be used," and handouts with Hitler's photo read "What if I had won? The good things:  there would be no Israel..." Durban I ended three days before 9/11. The Durban Review Conference, or Durban II, was held in Geneva in 2009, and the only world leader to attend was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Organizers of the "Perils of Global Intolerance" conference were galvanized, Bayefsky said, after learning that "Americans will be mourning the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001 at the same time as the United Nations is legitimizing the kind of intolerance that drives terrorism in the first place."

The one-day conference will be a call to action.  "Given the events that Durban III is intended to commemorate," Bayefsky noted, "the UN will sadly serve as a global platform to promote the inverse of its original purposes and principles. It is imperative to deny legitimacy to prejudice and the Durban Declaration."

A Speakers List of International Prominence

The conference has gathered an impressive array of distinguished speakers from three continents, including Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel, former US UN Ambassador John Bolton, former Governor Mike Huckabee, world-renowned scholar Bernard Lewis, Ronald Lauder is the current President of the World Jewish Congress, Academy-award winning actor Jon Voight, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, Harvard Professor and best-selling author Alan Dershowitz, a psychologist named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world Wafa Sultan, Sudanese human rights activist Simon Deng, former Israeli UN Ambassador Dore Gold, Harvard Professor and National Humanities Medal recipient Ruth Wisse, veteran award-winning journalist Khaled Abu Toameh, Hoover Institution Fellow and National Humanities Medal recipient Shelby Steele, bestselling author and award-winning UK journalist Douglas Murray, and President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy Zuhdi Jasser.

Political and other leaders who have a genuine interest in combating xenophobia will be provided a crucial forum to speak with passion about their concerns, and to distance America and decent people everywhere from a multilateralism divorced from fundamental freedoms and inalienable rights.

Press Credentials

Press is invited to attend the conference, but conference credentials are required.  For the credentialing procedure, please contact [email protected]

For more information, please see our website at www.DurbanWatch.com or please call Deb Colton at 631 549-0925  

About the Hudson Institute and the Touro Institute:

The Hudson Institute seeks to guide global leaders to promote security, prosperity, and freedom worldwide.  Its innovative research explores the crossover between cultural, demographic, technological, economical, and political atmospheres.  http://www.hudson.org/

The Touro College Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust aims to understand, explore and evaluate contemporary mechanisms for protecting human rights and the rule of law in view of the lessons of the Holocaust and its aftermath.  http://www.touro.edu/ihrh

Confirmed conference speakers include:

Professor Elie Wiesel is the recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Peace.  A Holocaust survivor, world-renowned author and university professor at Boston University, he has received more than 100 honorary degrees from institutions of higher learning including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal of Achievement.  From 1978 to 1986 he chaired the President's Commission on the Holocaust and in 1986 he established The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity to combat indifference and injustice.

Ambassador John Bolton is a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2005 to 2006). Amb. Bolton has had a long and distinguished career in the U.S. public service, including Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Amb. Bolton is also a regular commentator on Fox News and contributor to various worldwide news publications.

Mike Huckabee is the former Governor of Arkansas (1996 – 2007) and Republican Presidential Candidate for the 2008 elections. In 2005, Governing Magazine named him as one of its 'Public Officials of the Year', while Time Magazine honored Gov. Huckabee as one of the five best governors in America. Gov. Huckabee is the author of nine books and currently hosts the number one weekend rated television show 'Huckabee' on the Fox News Channel.

Bernard Lewis is the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Emeritus at Princeton University and has been described by the Wall Street Journal as "the West's leading scholar of the Middle East."  An author of over 30 books, he is a recipient of the National Humanities Medal, a fellow of the British Academy, and the American Academy of Arts and Science.

Jon Voight is an Academy-award winning actor, producer and director, with almost fifty films to his credit.  Among his many honors, he is the recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor, two Golden Globe awards for Best Actor, and the Cannes Film Festival Award  for Best Actor.  His courageous efforts to speak out against intolerance, racism and antisemitism have earned him admiration from around the world.

Ed Koch is a former Mayor of New York City (1978 – 1989) and Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1969 – 1977). Mr Koch, is a lawyer and former law professor at several prestigious universities in the United States, including New York University and Brandeis.  He is also a best-selling author, civil rights advocate and regular op-ed contributor on politics and foreign affairs to various news publications around the world.

Professor Alan Dershowitz, the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, is one of the most distinguished defenders of individual and human rights in the world. He is the author of 27 books and his regular columns appear in newspapers around the globe. He is a recipient of numerous humanitarian awards and honorary doctorates for his efforts in defending civil liberties and human rights.

Wafa Sultan is a psychologist and political commentator.  She regularly appears on such television networks as CNN and Fox News, as well Al-Jazeera and Arabic-language news channels. In 2006, Sultan was named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world "whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world."

Simon Deng is one of the most courageous human rights activists of our time.  A heroic Sudanese refugee and survivor of child slavery, today he is an American citizen leading the struggle to stop human rights abuses in Sudan.  In 2006 he launched the Sudan Freedom Walk, trekking 300 miles from UN headquarters in New York to Washington DC, as a call to action to end slavery and genocide in Sudan.

Ambassador Gold is the President of the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs and a former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations (1997 – 1999).  He has served as a senior advisor to Israeli Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon, and been a member of pivotal Israeli diplomatic delegations to peace negotiations. Amb. Gold has written numerous articles and books on the Middle East, including Tower of Babble: How the United Nations Has Fueled Global Chaos.

Ruth Wisse is the Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature, and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University.  In 2007 she was awarded the National Humanities Medal.  She is the author of the seminal 1992 work If I Am Not For Myself: The Liberal Betrayal of the Jews and the 2007 book Jews and Power, described by the Los Angeles Times as "challenging, erudite and penetrating."

Khaled Abu Toameh is a veteran award-winning journalist who has been covering Palestinian affairs for nearly three decades. Abu Toameh's articles have appeared in numerous newspapers around the world. He currently writes on Palestinian affairs for The Jerusalem Post and is also a producer and consultant for NBC News as well as a Senior Advisor at Hudson New York.

Shelby Steele is a Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.  He was awarded the prestigious Bradley Prize in 2006 and the National Humanities Medal in 2004. Steele is also an Emmy Award winning film maker and author and a contributing editor to Harper's Magazine. He received the National Book Critic's Circle Award in 1990 for The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race in America.

Douglas Murray is a bestselling author and award-winning journalist based in London, England. He has written for numerous publications including the Telegraph, Spectator, Wall Street Journal and Sunday Times. He is a columnist for Standpoint magazine, an Associate Director of the Henry Jackson Society and the Director of the Centre for Social Cohesion.

Zuhdi Jasser MD is the President and Founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD).  He served 11 years as a medical officer in the U. S. Navy and in 2007 was presented with the Director's Community Leadership Award by the Phoenix office of the FBI.  Dr. Jasser, a frequent media commentator, regularly briefs members of the House and Senate congressional anti-terror caucuses..

Professor Anne Bayefsky, an international human rights lawyer, is a Senior Fellow, of the Hudson Institute and Director of the Touro College Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust. A recipient of Canada's premier human rights fellowship, named after Canadian Chief Justice Bora Laskin, she has been a member of numerous delegations to the UN since 1984.  A frequent media commentator, she is the author or editor of eleven books and creator of leading websites www.bayefsky.com and www.EYEontheUN.org.

Ronald Lauder is the current President of the World Jewish Congress.  He also serves as Chairman of the Jewish Heritage Council and the Director of the International Board of Governors of the International Society for Yad Vashem.  In 1987 he founded The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation in Europe, a visionary effort to revitalize Jewish identity through educational and cultural initiatives in places where Jewish populations had been decimated by the Holocaust.

Hudson Institute: http://www.hudson.org  

Touro Institute: http://www.touroinstitute.com

Eye on the UN:  http://www.eyeontheun.org

SOURCE Hudson Institute

WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?

440k+
Newsrooms &
Influencers

9k+
Digital Media
Outlets

270k+
Journalists
Opted In

GET STARTED