Australia threatens 'Durban II' boycott - Let's hope they do boycott it

from The Jerusalem Post
March 12, 2009
By JPOST.COM STAFF

Australia on Thursday morning threatened to withdraw from participating in the upcoming United Nations anti-racism conference, dubbed Durban II, due to the anti-Semitic overtones evident in the conference's current drafts.

"The Australian government will give very careful consideration to what, if any, changes are made to the text to see whether it is appropriate for Australia to participate in the conference," Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said.

"If we form the view that the text is going to lead to nothing more than an anti-Jewish, anti-Semitic harangue and anti-Jewish propaganda exercise, then Australia will not be in attendance," he added.

Italy was the first European country to announce its intention to boycott the conference, set to be held in Geneva on April 20-24. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini made the announcement during a meeting with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Brussels.

The United States, Israel and Canada have also announced their intention to boycott the event, which is a follow-up to the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, which took place in Durban, South Africa. These four countries are boycotting out of concern that the second event, much like the first, would single out Israel. There are additional concerns regarding other issues such as defamation of religion and free speech.
Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.
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