Israel says it will not attend Durban II conference

Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni announced on Sunday evening that Israel will not participate in the 'Durban II' conference in 2009. Speaking at the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism in Jerusalem, the minister said Israel would not consider the UN summit legitimate unless it receives proof that the venue will not serve once again as a platform for anti-Semitic or anti-Israel activity. Israel and the United States walked out of the first Durban World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in 2001, citing hateful anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli rhetoric. The 2009 conference on global racism will once again be held in South Africa. Anti-Semitism conference (video courtesy Infolive.tv) "Participation in this conference legitimizes hate, extremism and anti-Semitism. Israel will not support this sort of behavior," said Livni, seeking in her address to implore of the international community to reject the conference. "Success in the battle against anti-Semitism will have far-reaching consequences for the Jewish future of the state of Israel and for all of the international community. We expect nations who see eye-to-eye with us on this matter to do as we have." Canada: Durban promotes racism and intolerance Former Canadian Justice Minister Professor Irwin Cotler addressed the forum in Jerusalem on Sunday and called for the formation of an international taskforce to combat anti-Semitism. Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog called the struggle against anti-Semitism the "most important battle of our day." Anti-Semitism, he said, is "rearing its ugly head all over the world and we are here today to build a united front to fight it." Canada has already announced it will take no part in the Durban conference, saying that the event is likely to descend into "regrettable anti-Semitism." The Durban II conference ''has gone completely off the rails'' and Canada wants no part of it, said Jason Kenney, Canada's secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity. ''Canada is interested in combating racism, not promoting it,'' Kenney said. ''We'll attend any conference that is opposed to racism and intolerance, not those that actually promote racism and intolerance.'' Several United States senators have claimed that Washington will ban the conference, however State Department Spokesman Tom Casey said that the matter was still being debated. Casey said the decision would be up to the next US administration because the conference is to take place after President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009. But, he said, the US has seen nothing from the organizers that would change Washington's view that the conference's tone will be anti-Semitic. "I certainly don't think that presently we view it as a particularly valuable activity," Casey said.

Israel says it will not attend Durban II conference

Foreign minister says Israel will not participate unless UN forum is not once again used as platform for anti-Semitism