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Durban Declaration
The UN Durban Declaration
In the picturesque Swiss city of Geneva April 20-24, 2009 the United Nations held its second global summit on racism a ‘human rights’ gathering designed to review the outcomes of the hate-filled fiasco held in Durban, South Africa in the week before the 9/11 attacks of September 2001.
The US, Australia and Germany were among a handful of influential western democracies that joined Israel and Canada at the last minute in boycotting the gathering, in part because the arrival of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Geneva promised to turn the entire event into a farce.
UN protocol dictated that Ahmadinejad was given the platform first as the sole head-of-state in attendance. He used it to accuse Israel of having “a racist government” and commiting genocide against the Palestinians. His speech prompted a mass walkout by European diplomats, and prompted condemnation from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon who criticized the Iranian leader for using the forum “to accuse, divide and even incite.”
The events in Geneva on April 20th just as Israel was beginning the solemn annual observance of Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Memorial Day – provided vindication of President Obama’s 11th hour decision to boycott the gathering.
The ICEJ is proud that we played our part in the chorus of voices from both the Jewish and Christian world that called on him to stay away and appreciate the grassroots support of nearly 5,000 online activists who signed up in support of our Boycott Durban II Petition.
That petition was delivered to the White House on Friday April 17th, together with an impassioned plea from ICEJ Executive Director Rev. Malcolm Hedding for President Obama to resist the mounting pressure to send a delegation to Durban II.
On the ground in Geneva the ICEJ national directors of Switzerland, France and Russia were standing with hundreds of Christians and Jews as part of series of city-wide protests against the Durban II conference and in memory of the Holocaust.
Meanwhile, in the Czech capital of Prague, ICEJ national director Mojmir Kallus spearheaded a rally at the Senate that led to the withdrawal of his nation from Durban II within hours of Ahmadinjad’s opening tirade. In Jerusalem ICEJ International Director Dr. Jürgen Bühler refuted the charge of Israeli racism in an extensive debate on the influential Arabic language satellite channel Al-Hurra.
The fight against the rising tide of global anti-Semitism continues.
Durban III: NY September 2011
By Lisa Schmid – ICEJ Germany
Durban I, South Africa
The original goal of the United Nations anti racism conference in Durban, South Africa, in 2001 was to acknowledge that slavery and colonialism is a crime. But instead of dealing with the painful colonial past something different happened – the event mutated into an anti-Semitic show trial against Israel. The Arab League together with non-aligned countries and some African states made use of their automatic majority to show-case Israel as a scapegoat for every real and perceived offense of the west. Fueled by reports of the just erupted second Palestinian intifada Israel was the only country out of 194 states worldwide to be placed in the dock. Zionism was equated with racism and apartheid, while at the same time ongoing human rights violations in Sudan and Congo were not even mentioned much less the persecution of minorities in the Islamic world.
Fiamma Nierenstein, who now serves as vice chairwoman of the foreign affairs committee of the Italian parliament was a journalist reporting on the first Durban conference in South Africa. According to Nierenstein: “Jews wearing a kippah had to escape demonstrators who were carrying around portraits of Osama Bin Laden and chased Jews. Jewish community centers in the town were stormed and closed. The press conference of the Israeli delegation was violently attacked and interrupted. Israel was equated with the German Nazis and particularly in South Africa accused of apartheid to question her right of existence.”
Just a few days later the terror attacks of 9-11 displaced Durban I in the headlines.
Durban II in Geneva
The follow-up conference “Durban II” in Geneva in 2009 was not as violent as the previous one but just as anti-Semitic. It started on the 20th of April, the very same day when Israel commemorated the victims of the Holocaust. The main speaker was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a known Holocaust denier. He characterized “the Zionist occupiers of Palestine” (Israel) as “racist”, “extremely brutal” and “criminal” and accused the Jewish state of the Crime of Genocide. He stigmatized “Zionists” as the root of the trouble in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some countries such as Israel, the USA and Germany learned from the debacle in 2001 and from the inception stayed away from the event. Delegates of other western nations walked out of the room in protest when Ahmadinejad delivered his speech but the majority of the delegates stayed – including many who gave the Iranian dictator a standing ovation.
Durban III in New York
The Majority of the 128 countries present at Durban II succeeded in putting the first Durban declaration – which equated ‘Zionism with racism’ on the United Nations agenda once again. The stated goal of the Third Durban conference in New York on the 23rd of September 2011 is to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Durban declaration and to incorporate “the implementation of the Durban declaration in the established human rights of the UN framework” (draft of the final statement). In other words – anti-Semitism, hatred of Israel and the Jews will be written into the official “human rights” policies of the United Nations. The timing of this initiative is especially controversial as it will take place shortly after the vote of the United Nations on the recognition of a Palestinian state at the annual opening of the General Assembly. The demonization of the nation of Israel and the Jewish people will once again be happening at the highest level – in front of the ruling leaders of the world. And the keynote speaker will once again be the Iranian President Ahmadinejad!
As of the end of August the USA, Canada, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, the Czech Republic and Austria have all canceled their participation in the Durban III conference in protest against its anti-Semitic and one-sided agenda. At the beginning of September, after numerous requests from different Jewish and Christian groups – among them the ICEJ – Germany also decided not to participate in the event. It is hoped that more countries will follow.
The Myth of Israeli Apartheid
While Israel was due to mark a solemn day of Holocaust remembrance on Monday April 20, 2009, the United Nations convened in Geneva for its second global anti-racism conference to endorse the outcomes of the anti-Semitic hate-fest that took place in the South African city of Durban on the eve of the 9/11 terror attacks in September 2001.
It is important for Christians to understand the real agenda behind the UN’s Durban initiative. That’s why, on the eve of the 2009 Geneva conference, we produced a 15 minute interview with ICEJ Director, Rev. Malcolm Hedding, a vocal opponent of Apartheid in South Africa and former resident of the city of Durban. In it he dismantles the myth of Israeli Apartheid.
Misusing ‘Apartheid’ to Delegitimize Israel
By Malcolm Hedding
On the 20th April, the day Hitler was born, the United Nations conference on racism, Durban II, will convene in Geneva. Durban I was nothing more than an attempt to attack Israel by accusing it of racism and of setting up the new Apartheid state. Thankfully, the USA walked out of that circus thus exposing the racist and anti-Semitic nature of the convocation. But now, in Geneva, those seeking to delegitimize Israel are seeking to ratify Durban I and smear Israel again. The Apartheid accusation against the Jewish State will be revived and more greatly amplified. Anti-Apartheid activists like Desmond Tutu will be quoted to verify the claim and even Jimmy Carter will be referenced in order to prove the point. The goal is simple: Discriminate against Israel, delegitimize Israel and, in the end, call for the dismantling of Israel. These voices are already being heard in different parts of the world. Durban II will press forward with this agenda.
Naturally, the word Apartheid is a very powerful one as it evokes images of racial discrimination and suffering that were all too common in South Africa for decades. Forty million people were robbed of their human dignity, treated like animals and herded into ghettos. They were classified white or non-white at the stroke of a pen and sometimes, when such racial profiling was not possible, the strength of one’s curled hair would determine one’s fate. Race coloured all departments of life and those who opposed the system were harassed, hunted down, imprisoned, exiled or even killed. It was an evil system that destroyed the lives of countless thousands.
It was indeed a joyous and great day when this scourge was finally removed allowing South Africa to become a fully democratic non-racist state on the 24th of April, 1994. However, to equate Israel with this system is ludicrous. I lived under the Apartheid State and its vicious machinery and know all too well what it meant. To band the word apartheid about loosely is an insult to the 40 million people who suffered under it. To use the term other than in its original context is to play down the horrific nature of this political nightmare. The same applies to the use of the word Holocaust other than in its original context. There can be no equal! Yet this is what Durban II is all about. The goal is sure; if a charge or accusation of being an apartheid state can be made to stick as far as Israel is concerned then a call can be made to the international community to dismantle such an entity. After all, why should Israel be different to South Africa? This is the danger that Israel now faces. It is a real danger and not one to be taken lightly. Powerful and significant international “players” are involved with it.
Israel is not an Apartheid state. It is a thriving modern day democracy that affords all its peoples dignity and equality under the law. Within its borders are Jews, Christians, Arabs, Druze, Armenians and many other minority groups. All have the same rights and dignity under the law. It enjoys freedom of the press and the right to peaceful protest. Women are respected under the law and allowed into all branches of human endeavour. Israel is a shining light in an Arab world that is largely in the grip of totalitarian governments. Yet it is Israel that the United Nations conference in Geneva has chosen to describe as an Apartheid one! Nothing could be further from the truth.
The conflict in Israel has nothing to do with Apartheid and never will. It is a conflict for survival and thus until Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and their fellow travelers in the Middle East come fully to terms with Israel’s existence the sufferings of the Palestinians will continue. Not because they live under an Apartheid regime but because they live under bad leadership that has led them continuously into a no man’s land of misery and despair. The idea of a Middle East without Israel is a delusion that many have to get over. Until that day dawns the blessings that Israel can bring to the region will be forfeited.
Rev. Malcolm Hedding
Executive Director
International Christian Embassy Jerusalem
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