Durban II Update: Anti-Israel parallel events garner minimal attention
On Sunday, April 19, 2009, the Simon Wiesenthal Center reported from Geneva on the Israel Review Conference and the Civil Society Forum – two NGO-organized parallel events designed to demonize Israel in the fashion of the first Durban conference in 2001 which notoriously embarrassed the UN for its blatant anti-semitism. (See Durban parallel slams ‘Israeli swimming pools’, Jerusalem Post, April 19, 2009)
The “Israel Review Conference” organized by the BNC (boycotts, divestment and sanctions national committee) entitled “United Against Apartheid, Colonialism and Occupation, Dignity & Justice for the Palestinian People” was attended by a mere 160 people. Badil presented a 300 page report on “Israel’s Practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the International Legal Prohibition on Apartheid”. Of the event, the Wiesenthal Center said that “This event was yet another example of Durban II’s bankruptcy and its kowtowing to tyrants”.
The Civil Society Forum, organized by a group of NGOs suspiciously attempting to remain anonymous, organized a demonstration “in support of the Durban Review Conference” which was endorsed by the radical Palestinian NGOs Badil and Ittijah. The main speaker at the demonstration was Dr. Jamal Zahalka, a member of the Israeli Knesset under the Balad party which was almost disqualified from the recent Israeli parliamentary elections for among other things, continuing to revere “Azmi Bishara, who partnered and still works with Israel’s worst enemies”. Sources who attended the demonstration said that only a few hundred people attended as opposed to the thousands who attended the anti-Israel protests in 2001.
Both events received minimal media attention. Combined with the pull out of numerous Western countries (Canada, Israel, Italy, US, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden), it appears that this time around various organizations and governments are not allowing the manipulation of the anti-racism forum for the perpetuation of anti-Israel propaganda.
ICARE (Internet Centre Against Racism Europe) reported that, “This weekend there was NGO activity of the Durban-kind in Geneva, but it was rather insignificant; a few hundred people during a demo and two small forums. Really nothing like it was in Durban. Slowly a little understanding is dawning that if NGOs engage in racism they are no better than…racists.”
