New York, NY, November 24, 2010 …The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today expressed disappointment with a United Nations resolution to commemorate the Durban conference, calling it "outrageous and shameful."

On November 23, the United Nations' Third Committee voted to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the infamous 2001 U.N. World Conference Against Racism, which was marred by anti-Semitism and extreme anti-Israel sentiment.  The commemoration is to occur in New York in September 2011.  The vote was 19 countries against, 121 for, with 35 abstentions.

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

The 2001 Durban Conference is permanently tainted as a notorious vehicle to promote anti-Semitism and incite hatred against Israel.  It marked the start of a new chapter in the efforts to use UN forums and mechanisms to vilify Israel and the Jewish people that continue to this day.  The conference represented a colossal failure of the international community to prevent the perversion of a UN conference designed to address the scourge of racism, discrimination, xenophobia and all forms of intolerance.

 

Each commemoration or review of the 2001 conference is an outrageous and shameful reminder of the harm which was perpetrated by an automatic majority of member states who allowed the Durban conference to become the symbol for expressions of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel hate.

 

We appreciate the vote by the United States and the 18 other countries who took a moral stand in opposition to the resolution and truly wish that more countries would have joined them.