Ten Years On, Durban Still Divides

As the UN commemorated the 10th anniversary of the controversial Durban World Conference Against Racism, opponents of the event held their own counter-conference at a nearby mid-town Manhattan hotel.

 The 2001 Durban Conference Declaration was boycotted by the US and other countries for its disproportionate focus on Israel and Zionism.

 The US, Canada, Australia and several European countries decided not to participate in this year’s commemoration.

 The Durban counter-event, entitled “The Perils of Global Intolerance”, had a wide range of participants from different fields, including Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor, Noble Laureate Eli Wiesel, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch and one time American Ambassador at the UN John Bolton. 

Bolton, a long-time critic of the United Nations, spoke about his time serving at the world body and the organization’s relationship with Israel.

“The pervasiveness of anti-Israel feeling, anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and anti-Americanism is there [at the UN] as an under-current all the time,” he said. 

Bolton claims the central objective of the Durban III Declaration is the “delegitimization” of the state of Israel, “in ways large and small.”

George W. Bush’s former UN Ambassador also said he wanted the Obama administration to take “strong action” against the Palestinian membership application at the UN set for tomorrow, which he describes as yet another attempt to delegitimize the state of Israel. 

Bolton argued the White House should threaten the Palestinian Authority and UN with funding cuts.

 “If you want the USA to be listened to in the United Nations context, talk about money,”