by Nitsana Darshan-Leitner
How will Israel deal with the expected attacks on it during the next Durban conference? As usual, by pleading with the participating countries to refrain from voting on damning resolutions. Lashing back at our detractors is unheard of, lest we incur the wrath of the rest of the world.
The fourth Durban Conference will convene on Sept. 22, in South Africa and it is likely to be a reflection of the first Durban Conference, held in 2001.
The summit held 20 years ago purported to discuss human rights violations and the fight against racism, but was taken over by Muslim countries hostile to Israel and they carried out a diplomatic lynching of the Jewish state. Then, like now, Israeli diplomacy was surprised, beaten and unresponsive.
Among the resolutions that were put to a vote in 2001 were ones labeling Israel an apartheid state, meaning it and its allies must therefore be subject to boycotts; Israel commits genocide and crimes against humanity, and therefore an armed struggle must be waged against it; and that the Zionist movement is essentially a racist movement.
The conference was a festival of with antisemitic venom. The guest of honor was then-PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
The first Durban conference birthed The boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and all of its familiar activities. From Durban, European countries began to condemn Israel for any action it takes to protect itself from the deadly surges of terrorism. Durban was what led to the establishment of the United Nations Human Rights Council, where 50% of the resolutions are against Israel. Durban is what inspired the International Court of Justice in The Hague to go after Israel for war crimes.
Durban was also the catalyst that drove the UN to obsessively and biasedly engage in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2018 alone, the UN General Assembly passed 21 resolutions condemning Israel, compared to six criticizing other countries combined.
Between 2001 and 2018 the United States, using its veto power in the UN Security Council, thwarted 12 resolutions censuring Israel. In the current composition of the Biden administration, it will be very challenging to extract an American veto on anti-Israel resolutions.
Today, the Palestinian Authority, under the auspices of the ICC and the various UN councils, has been vigorously working to fully exploit the forthcoming Durban IV for yet another savage attack. Israel's tactics, however, have remained unchanged: plead with the countries participating in the conference to abstained from voting. Lashing back at our detractors isn't even an option lest we incur the wrath of the rest of the world.
The assumption that in any war against radical human rights organizations we will face another wave of anti-Israel hatred - must be shattered.
In the face of relentless lies one must take decisive steps, and stop stuttering. We must prevent the entry of BDS activists into the country, just as France, the United States, Britain and Canada bar entry to their soil from those who threaten to prosecute them.
We must also exact a price from UN envoys who pen false reports on IDF operations.
Still, how can [we] complain about steps taken by other countries if Israeli authorities themselves become active partners in the boycott of Israel and turn their backs on the fight against antisemitism?
The attorney general is currently preventing Jewish business owners in Judea and Samaria from suing the UN Human Rights Council for its "blacklist," even though it is a discriminatory and racist list.
The Jerusalem court has asked Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit to rule on the matter six times since August 2020, but he refuses to rule for fear of upsetting the UN, claiming that his representatives are negotiating to soften the decisions.
So before we point the finger of blame at countries worldwide, it would be better for the country's top officials to stop behaving like exiled Jews who do not believe in our right to the state.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner
Source: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/time-for-some-tough-diplomacy/
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