Three countries pull out of Durban III. Where are others?

The admirable decision by Czech Republic, Italy and the Netherlands not to participate in the upcoming UN "anti-racism" extravaganza should serve as a wake-up call for other democracies.

By ANNE BAYEFSKY
News broke Friday and Saturday that the Czech Republic, Italy and The Netherlands have decided to pull out of the upcoming UN “anti-racism” extravaganza known as Durban III. Canada, Israel, and the United States have already given thumbs down to the event, which the UN is bringing to US shores on September 22, 2011. While Americans will be mourning the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the United Nations in New York will be “commemorating” the 10th anniversary of the first Durban conference – an outpouring of the kind of intolerance and xenophobia which fuels terrorism in the first place.
The Czech, Italian and Dutch moves come a few days after U.N. negotiators quietly circulated a draft of the final declaration that will be adopted at the conclusion of Durban III. Although the writing had been on the wall for a very long time, the alarm bells could no longer be ignored. The “political declaration” focuses particularly on what it calls “victims of racism.” And the Durban Declaration emanating from South Africa names only one state victimizer – Israel. The Palestinian people are listed as victims of racism.
The Zionism-is-racism mantra, the Durban formula being its most recent incarnation, has been circulating around the UN for decades. It is the cornerstone of the effort to delegitimize the Jewish state and invoke lethal politics when other weaponry falls short. These days, the campaign is headquartered in a working group of the UN General Assembly that is tasked with squaring the circle: reaffirming the contemptible message of the Durban Declaration under a veil of human rights gibberish.
Czech, Italian and Dutch diplomats, however, can read. The current draft of the final declaration for Durban III says that the UN must “incorporate the implementation of the Durban Declaration into the human rights mainstreaming in the UN system” and demands an intensification of “efforts at the local, national, regional and international levels aimed at the full and effective implementation” of instruments like the Durban Declaration and beyond.
And there’s more. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation managed to insert a demand for “cultural diversity, solidarity and harmony.” That’s the typical UN prescription for stifling free speech—avoiding any action to stop Syrian butchers, for example—and generally keeping criticism of Islamic anti-human rights predilections off the table.
The countries from the so-called non-aligned movement, which comprises 115 developing countries, have also incorporated into the political declaration a claim that “poverty,” “underdevelopment,” and “economic disparities” are “closely associated with racism and racial discrimination.” That’s a familiar form of extortion that starts by labeling donor countries racists.
The Czech Republic, Italy and The Netherlands rightly decided they’d had enough. Earlier this month they had warned negotiators that a Durban III political declaration would have to reject the part of the original Durban Declaration that singled out Israel because it was antithetical to the fight against racism. They came to the realization it was a lost cause.
Other Western states, however, are playing a quite different role, in particular Norway and Switzerland. These two countries have decided to take the lead in championing the Durban Declaration in all its manifestations and to fall in lock step with Arab and Islamic priorities.
Still other European Union countries like Britain and France have expressed a willingness to go the cover-up route, although their verbal gymnastics defy imagination. In June the General Assembly adopted a resolution on the organization of Durban III that stated: “the closing plenary meeting will comprise…the adoption of a short and concise political declaration aimed at mobilizing political will.” That’s an odd sentence apparently ending in mid-stream. It was the EU’s idea to omit the words which came after “political will.” In December 2010 the General Assembly resolution promoting Durban III referred to mobilizing political will “for the full and effective implementation of the Durban Declaration.” When the EU floated the idea of not finishing the sentence or of incorporating a technical reference to the December resolution that nobody would read, the meeting’s co-chair gave them a nod and said he appreciated their interests in subterfuge.
The next round of "negotiations," at which Western states will be dressed-down and manipulated by the racism charge coming from the Islamic world and others, will be held at UN headquarters on July 28.
Whatever rhetorical devices are contrived behind closed doors, the bottom line remains: Durban III is all about commemorating an event that is forever tainted with anti-Semitism and intolerance. The admirable decision by the Czech Republic and Italy is a wake-up call for other democracies still pretending otherwise.