A global network of more than 3,000 pro-Israel lawyers and activists is asking European countries to withdraw their participation from an upcoming event marking the 20th anniversary of the Durban Conference, reported The Jerusalem Post.
The Durban IV Conference is slated to take place at the United Nations in New York on Sept. 22. The International Legal Forum (ILF) said in a letter to U.N. ambassadors and foreign ministers that the event, first held in South Africa in 2001, has “descended into an infamous hotbed of unbridled Jew-hatred, anti-Semitism and vilification of the State of Israel.”
ILF explained that the conference “revived the ‘Zionism is Racism’ slur, outrageously claimed Israel is an ‘apartheid state,’ distorted the Holocaust and made numerous Nazi analogies. It also became the birthplace and catalyst of the modern boycott, divestment and sanctions [BDS] movement, which seeks the destruction of the State of Israel as its ultimate goal.”
The pro-Israel group sent the letter to countries that have adopted the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism, including Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
ILF further argued that these countries have a moral obligation to pull out of the Durban conference because the event has engaged in activity that contradicts the IHRA definition, according to the Post.
Multiple countries have announced that they will not be attending the conference, including the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Austria, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Israel, France, Germany, and, most recently, Bulgaria.
