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ADL Downgrades Its Participation at Durban Racism Conference
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, who was named a public member of the U.S. delegation to the U.N. World Conference Against Racism, advised the White House that he would not go to Durban due to continuing efforts to use the forum to de-legitimize Israel with unfounded charges of racism. His decision came in advance of the Administration's announcement that Secretary of State Colin Powell will not attend, which ADL applauded.
ADL downgraded its status at the World Conference from official participation to a monitoring/observer role. The League's representatives — Stacy Burdett, ADL Associate Director of Government & National Affairs, and Michael Salberg, ADL National Commissioner — are sending regular briefings as part of this online resource.
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Dateline Durban:
Anti-Israel Hecklers Interrupt Press Conference
August 30, 2001, Durban —
A press conference organized by more than 20 world Jewish organizations concerned about the strongly anti-Israel tone of the U.N. World Conference Against Racism in Durban was interrupted today by a stream of jeers and anti-Israel epithets from Palestinian sympathizers.
The anti-Israel protesters, including Arab, Islamic and Palestinian activists, shouting "Zionism is racism, Israel is apartheid," and "You have Palestinian blood on your hands," in an attempt to drown out the message of Jewish delegates gathered for the conference in Durban, including representatives from the Anti-Defamation League.
The protest was the latest attempt by anti-Israel forces to politicize the world conference and to intimidate representatives of Jewish organizations on hand to monitor the proceedings, said Stacy Burdett, ADL's representative in Durban.
"Unfortunately, this episode is only the latest in a series of attempts to drag the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into an international forum where it does not belong," she said.
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