Dear Sir:
I keep hearing that "singling-out" Israel at the UN conference on Racism was unfair and that this in itself bred anti-Jewish (or racist) sentiment against members of Jewish delegations attending the conference. However, which the exception of one letter written below (which somewhat alluded to the issue) I've yet to see any concrete example of how this is the case. For example, is railroading a meeting put on by pro-Zionist or Israeli groups in itself anti-Jewish (the closest example I've seen to elaborating about this "anti-Jewish" behaviour) ? Were I to display my displeasure at the policies employed in the name of certain groups -- for example, the KKK -- and engage in some form of direct action in disrupting a meeting put on by these groups, would that be racist?
If it's a matter of evening-out criticism of abusers of human rights like Israel towards others abusers, such as surrounding Arab countries, would that satisfy the issue?
sincerely,
David Obiekwe Quarter
On 7 Sep 01, at 8:26, Nurev Ind. wrote:
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> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Debunking Durban
> Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 05:57:34 -0500
> From: Honest Reporting <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> HonestReporting Communique
> 06 September 2001
>
> "DEBUNKING DURBAN"
>
> * * *
>
> Dear HonestReporting Member,
>
> This week the international media gave HonestReporting a pleasant
> surprise: They blasted the UN Conference on Racism for its unfair
> treatment of Israel.
>
> Here is a collection of 4 commentaries from around the world.
> HonestReporting members can read the full articles online, and send
> letters to the editor.
>
> Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
>
> HonestReporting.com
>
> ==================
>
> (1) THE GUARDIAN (UK) - "Hate-Hate Relationship"
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,546969 ,00.html
>
> Even traditionally anti-Israel publications, such as the Guardian (UK),
> joined in the near-universal condemnation of the Durban conference. After
> dispensing with the Guardian's standard Israel- bashing, columnist Linda
> Grant unleased surprising critisism at pro-Arab groups, accusing them of
> undermining the Palestinian cause:
>
> "[A]dhering to the belief that Zionism is racism does not necessarily
> absolve you from being virulently racist yourself. Jews who have been
> active in movements such as Peace Now and Gush Shalom, engaged in what we
> hoped would be constructive debate about finding a just settlement between
> Israel and the Palestinians, have already come across some of the
> anti-Jewish racism which has been pervading the Durban racism conference
> all week...
>
> "A very simple truth has emerged out of the debacle of the Durban
> conference: that you don't fight racism with more racism, and,
> unfortunately, as the conference revealed, the "Zionism is racism"
> doctrine is fostering a climate of increased racial prejudice. You have to
> ask how the disgraceful treatment of Jewish (and not just Israeli)
> delegates, the breaking up of meetings, or the hate literature has aided
> the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank in any way -- or whether it has
> tarnished and weakened their cause."
>
> Letters to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> * * *
>
> (2) THE IRISH TIMES - Kevin Meyers
> http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2001/0831/o pt5.htm
>
> "[T]he dismal charade in Durban, where Israel alone is being singled out
> for attention as a racist state... is such an absurdity, such a
> contradiction of the living, breathing truth, that one is almost lost for
> words, as one would be if one had to rebut the accusation that Saudi
> Arabia is too tolerant of public lesbianism. Two minutes in any Israeli
> street will tell you of the racial complexity of the modern Jewish state;
> and any doubts about how broadly Israel defines Jewishness were rebutted
> by the vast airlift of the coal-black Falashas from Ethiopia 20 years
> ago... I am absolutely sure that no Israeli government has ever broadcast
> anything to compare with the virulently genocidal and anti-Semitic filth
> emanating from its neighbours."
>
> Letters to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> * * *
>
> (3) THE AGE (AUSTRALIA) - "UN Reaps Its Bitter Harvest"
> http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/2001/09/06/FFX48TG 08RC.html
>
> "[T]he condemnation of Israel [is] all the more repellent, since Israel is
> the only Middle Eastern nation whose political and legal structures can
> seriously be claimed to reflect those principles [of the Universal
> Declaration of Human Rights]. This is not to say that Israel is blameless
> in its treatment of the Palestinians, or that the Palestinians have no
> right to a state of their own. But it does mean that the equation of
> Zionism and racism is unconscionable, and that the conference's main
> achievement has been to dramatise the gulf between the declared ideals of
> the UN and the willingness of some of its forums and many of its member
> states to adhere to those ideals... UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan once
> said that the General Assembly's resolution condemning Zionism as a form
> of racism was a low point in the organisation's history. That resolution
> has been repealed, but sadly, its destructive legacy continues."
>
> Letters to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> * * *
>
> (4) FINANCIAL TIMES - "Deadlock in Durban"
> http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftcpagename=View&c=Article &cid=FT368TH18RC&live=true
>
>
> "When Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, opened the event in Durban, he
> urged the delegates not to pick on any one country or region. His words
> apparently fell on deaf ears. All efforts so far to prevent Israel from
> being singled out for particular censure have failed... That is not to say
> that Israel's policies towards the Palestinians cannot or should not be
> criticised. The Palestinians have real grievances and few forums in which
> to express them. But to accuse Israel of racism without mentioning
> Russia's actions in Chechnya, for example, or China's colonisation of
> Tibet, or even government-supported racist acts in neighbouring Zimbabwe,
> is one-sided and absurd. The trouble is that from the start the conference
> was hijacked by special interest groups and the problem was compounded by
> a lack of clear focus and good preparation...
>
> "Now the US and Israel have quit the conference. They made little effort
> to use diplomacy to change the conclusions and their predictable departure
> has soured the atmosphere. They might as well not have attended at all."
>
> (Note: The Financial Times is mistaken that "little effort" was made.
> Months of U.S. and Israeli diplomatic efforts attempted to forestall the
> anti-Israel resolutions.)
>
> Letters to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
> ======================================
>
> MORE ON AMIRA HAAS
>
> As a follow-up to our last communique, we offer some more background into
> the pro-Palestinian activities of Israeli journalist Amira Haas. In June
> 2001, the Jerusalem District Court ordered Ha'aretz and Hass to pay
> 250,000 shekels (about $80,000) for defamation against the Jewish
> community of Hebron.
>
> In January, Haas had reported on an incident in which Israeli Border
> Police killed a wanted Palestinian terrorist, Shabber Hassouna
> al-Husseini. Hass reported that Jews from Hebron kicked, spit on and
> danced around the dead body.
>
> An investigation by the Israeli Army determined that the accusations were
> false. Hebron's Jewish community demanded a written apology from Ha'aretz,
> but when the request was denied, the community turned to the courts.
>
> Judge Rachel Shalev-Gartel concluded in favor of the Hebron residents,
> ruling that Haas' report -- disproven by several televised accounts of the
> incident -- damaged the community's reputation.
>
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