Simon Wiesenthal Center: US, EU Should Follow Canadian Lead and Boycott Durban III

The Simon Wiesenthal Center praised Canada’s decision to boycott the United Nations’ Durban III “anti-racism” conferenceslated for September 2011.

“Once again Canada has shown moral courage and diplomatic leadership in boycotting the so-called Durban process,” said RabbiAbraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading Jewish human Rights NGO and who served as a spokesman for Jewish groups at the first UN Durban Conferencein South Africa in 2001.

“The first Durban Conference held shortly before 9/11 degenerated into an an anti-Israel hatefest and last year’s Durban II atUN headquarters in Geneva bestowed its opening keynote to Holocaust denying, genocide-threatening Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of the repressive Iranian regime. Now the UN hasvoted to convene Durban III, just after the 10th anniversary of 9/11. We urge the United States, members of the European Union and other democracies to join Canada and announcetheir intention to boycott the next manifestation of the Durban process which has made a mockery of the lofty goal of combating racism,” Cooper noted.

“The 400,000 members of the Simon Wiesenthal Center salute Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his consistent leadership in thestruggle against anti-Semitism and his unabashed support for Israel’s rights in the International arena and hope that other world leaders committed to democratic values and humanrights will follow his lead,” Cooper concluded.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the UnitedStates. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament(Parlatino).

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