New York, NY, January 26, 2009 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called on responsible nations to withdraw from further participation in the United Nations-sponsored Durban Review Conference scheduled to be held in Geneva in April. 

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:

The latest round of negotiations have proven that the so-called 'Durban II' Conference will inevitably promote the agenda of those governments who want to single out Israel for condemnation, prevent Holocaust remembrance, and establish a global blasphemy code for Islam.  Now is the time for responsible nations to get up and walk out.

It is unmistakably clear that we are headed for a repeat of the overheated anti-Israel hatefest of the original 2001 Durban conference.  The Syrian delegation's attempt to question whether a third of the Jewish people were murdered in the Holocaust -- and to delete language referring to that fact -- is another sign that the follow-up conference will be as tainted as the first.  If that is the kind of debate occurring at a so-called 'anti-racism' conference, no self-respecting country should participate.

We appreciate the principled positions of the European Union and other countries who proposed to delete all language about Israel and to add language on Holocaust remembrance in the negotiations on the draft conference declaration.  Since these proposals were not accepted, we see no other choice for responsible nations than to follow the moral decision taken last year by Canada to withdraw from participating in an illegitimate conference.

The Geneva conference is a follow-up to the infamous 2001 U.N. World Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa, where some governments and organizations proposed to brand Zionism, the Jewish aspiration for a national homeland, and Israel's policies toward the Palestinians as racist.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.