Posted on 07/25/21
| News Source: i24
Germany is 10th country to withdraw from upcoming conference marking 2001 event rife with antisemitism
Berlin will not attend this September's United Nations event marking the 20th anniversary of the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, according to a report in Welt am Sonntag that was confirmed by a German diplomatic source.
Germany is the 10th country to withdraw from the upcoming Durban IV conference, joining Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Austria, Netherlands and the Czech Republic. France is expected to not attend although no official statement has come out of Paris as of yet.
The Durban Declaration adopted at the 2001 event demonized and delegitimized Israel and a parallel NGO forum engaged in antisemitism and Holocaust denial, in what UN Watch describes as "the worst international manifestation of antisemitism in the post-war period."
Israel and the United States both withdrew from the 2001 conference over objections to a draft document equating Zionism with racism.
The Durban conference is considered to be the birthplace of the anti-Israel BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement.
According to Welt am Sonntag, the Federal Foreign Office gave no reason for refusing to attend the conference.