Record number of states boycott UN event for 25th anniversary of anti-Israel Durban conference

The 2001 World Conference Against Racism took place in Durban, South Africa, under U.N. auspices.

By Rebecca Szlechter, JNS

More than 40 countries boycotted a U.N. event on Monday, marking 25 years since the 2001 anti-Israel Durban Conference.

That set a new record, surpassing the previous high of 38 countries that skipped the event in 2021, according to the Israeli delegation to the United Nations.

The boycott followed a diplomatic campaign led by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which encouraged countries around the world to avoid the event.

The anniversary should serve as a reminder of what happens when the fight against racism is politicized, according to Danny Danon, Israeli ambassador to the global body.

“The lesson of Durban is that a noble cause can lose all credibility when it is hijacked by hatred and political agendas,” Danon told JNS.

“The fight against racism must never become a vehicle for antisemitism or for singling out the Jewish state.”

“Twenty-five years later, the growing number of countries boycotting the event shows that many members of the international community understand where Durban went wrong,” he said.

“The United Nations must now demonstrate that it understands as well,” he told JNS.

“That means confronting antisemitism with the same seriousness as every other form of racism, rather than providing it with a platform and calling it human rights.”

The 2001 World Conference Against Racism took place in Durban, South Africa, under U.N. auspices.

It was intended to address racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance but drew criticism from Israel, the United States, and Jewish organizations over antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric at a parallel nongovernmental-organization forum.

A U.S. State Department report to Congress said anti-Israel rhetoric at the conference was “pervasive” and cited South Africa’s then-deputy foreign minister, Aziz Pahad, as acknowledging that the forum had been “hijacked” by participants with an anti-Israel agenda and turned into an antisemitic event.

Then U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell said that the United States was withdrawing from the conference on Sept. 3, 2001, since its declarations contained “hateful language,” revived the discredited “Zionism equals racism” formulation, suggested that apartheid existed in Israel and singled out Israel for condemnation.

Evan R. Bernstein, CEO of B’nai B’rith International, which sent a large delegation to the 2001 conference, told JNS on Monday that B’nai B’rith representatives witnessed firsthand “how a United Nations conference meant to fight racism became a platform for the very hatred it was supposed to confront.”

“Durban’s legacy is 25 years of legitimizing the demonization of Israel and the Jewish people, and the record boycott shows much of the world is finally refusing to celebrate it,” Bernstein said.

The conference’s legacy continues to affect perceptions of Israel and Jews internationally, according to the B’nai B’rith leader.

“That is the real legacy of Durban,” he told JNS. “It did not advance the fight against racism. Instead, it gave international cover to the modern demonization of Israel and the Jewish people.”

A spokesman for the American Jewish Committee also criticized the U.N. commemoration.

“At a time when antisemitic incidents have reached record levels and anti-Zionist invective is leading to horrific violence against Jews, the world cannot afford to see the toxicity of the Durban conference repeated yet again,” the group told JNS.

“AJC will continue to stress to governments that they must not tolerate an approach to mobilizing global support for combating racism that has repeatedly provided a pretext for bad actors to demonize and delegitimize Israel and invite and legitimize hatred of and violence against Jews,” the spokesman said.