| ECI calls on the EU to prevent anti-Semitic agenda at the UN |
European Coalition for Israel calls on the European Union to prevent anti-Semitic agenda at planned UN conference on Racism
European Coalition for Israel regrets the fact that the previous conference in Durban in 2001 was hijacked by undemocratic forces which had only one goal, to criticize the state of Israel and which singled out only one country, namely Israel, for “ethnic cleansing”, “apartheid” and “crimes against humanity” – “It is a tragic historical paradox that a conference which should have as one of its primary objectives to address anti-Semitism instead developed in to a conference which openly promoted anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism, said ECI Executive Director Tomas Sandell at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday. He went on to say that “The UN should not allow itself to be hijacked by anti-democratic and anti-Jewish forces. The European Coalition for Israel notes with gratitude that the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, which will take over the rotating EU-presidency in July, shares our concern and has promised to disengage from the conference if it again will seek to give legitimacy to anti-Semitic rhetoric while failing to address real issues of concern for the international community.” The UN Human Rights Council had until Wednesday tabled only four resolutions, all condemning Israel. The Council is chaired by Libya and Iran is a member of its executive committee. – “The members attending the Human Rights Council should be reminded of the fact that the United Nations emerged from the ashes of the Holocaust. A human rights agenda which fails to address anti-Semitism denies its own history, Sandell concluded. |
Geneva 19 March 2008 – As the United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday debated the issue of racism and the plans for a new UN Conference on the subject to be held in 2009, European Coalition for Israel issued a statement calling on the European Union to ensure that such a conference addresses racism as such and does not use the conference as just another opportunity to demonize the state of Israel and the Jewish people.