Geneva marks 22nd anniversary of Durban conference – ECI calls on Iranian Chair of upcoming Social Summit to step down to restore faith in the UNHRC | European Coalition for Israel

TehranJerusalem, September 1st, 2023 – As the infamous UN World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance marks its 22nd anniversary in Geneva, ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell notes that “the path to hell is paved with good intentions.”
In a statement in Jerusalem on Friday, where the international board of the European Coalition for Israel is currently meeting, he said: “No single event after the end of the Second World War has contributed more to the resurgence of antisemitism than this conference. Behind the noble cause of fighting racism, murky but powerful forces managed to divert the attention away from fighting racism to simply blaming the Jews. The late Congressman Tom Lantos has rightly described the treatment of Jews in Durban in September 2001 as ‘the worst display of antisemitism after the Second World War’. Today we know how, among others, the Islamic regime in Tehran managed to manipulate civil society organizations, including churches, into demonizing Israel and the Jews.”