Durban II: The Latest War on Israel
Durban II: The Latest War on Israel
by Shira Sorko-Ram
A few days before 9/11, the United Nations mounted its greatest-ever attack on Israel’s existence. The week-long battle raged in far-off Durban, South Africa. Not a war of physical weapons, but one that was going for the kill – and its target, center stage, was the Jewish state.
These human architects of righteousness and justice titled their crusade the “World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.”
They chose two honored guests to greet the delegates – the famed father of modern terrorism, Yasser Arafat, together with the founder of the oldest dictatorship in the western hemisphere, Fidel Castro.
The eight-day conference, pumped up to be an event that would fight such evils as racism and religious intolerance, was nothing more or less than an eight-day hate-fest against Israel – a vicious and racist onslaught against the human rights of the Jewish people.
Their premise: Who is more racist than Israel? And who discriminates racially more than the Jews? And what religion is more intolerant of other religions than Judaism? Who made those judgments? The 7,000 delegates from the nations of the world, guided by the UN’s Islamic nucleus, pronounced the verdict.
The attacks were multi-faceted: Pamphlets were handed out at the NGO (non government organizations) meetings, including vicious caricatures of Jews – reminiscent of Nazi cartoons of Jews in World War II – like Jews with hooked noses who had Palestinian blood on their hands as they sat on their piles of money.
The most infamous anti-Semitic book in existence, The Protocols of Zion, was freely distributed and posters carrying slogans overlapping the Star of David with the swastika greeted the emissaries.
Jewish delegates felt under siege and were hiding their accreditation badges because it identified them as Jewish delegates, again, reminiscent of Europe in World War II.
The aim was very clear: to unite the world to boycott and impose sanctions against Israel – as was done to bring down the South African white government – and destroy Israel economically.
The late Democratic Representative Tom Lantos of California who attended Durban I said, “This was the most sickening and unabashed display of hate for Jews I had seen since the Nazi period.”
Another delegate from the American Jewish Committee said, this is “a well organized effort to use the human rights talk to delegitimize not only the actions of Israel, but its very right to exist.”
Finally, the United States and Israel walked out. Canada stayed on, for the reason that they publically stated, to strongly voice their objection to the vicious attacks on Israel. The Canadian representative warned: “Canada is still here only because we wanted to have our voice decry the attempts at this conference to delegitimize the State of Israel.”
However, when the final report of Durban I was published, Canada’s official objections were mysteriously deleted from the report. In fact, human rights commissioner Navanethem Pillay had no problem informing the world that the report had been unanimously approved – a fact that Canada strenuously denies. She also failed to mention that the U.S and Israel left in the middle.
The conference ended four days before the twin towers were destroyed. The members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, who now dominate most UN events, concluded their deliberations and pronounced Israel the most evil power on earth.
DURBAN II
But why bring up something that took place seven and a half years ago?
Because it is about to happen again. From April 20-24, Durban II will convene – this time in Geneva.
A new draft of Islamic demands, much harsher than the last one, has been in the works for many months. Their mantra – a homeland for the Jewish people is racism. Thus Israel is guilty of apartheid. And the Holocaust is subject to question because Iran and Syria have doubts concerning the number of Jews that died. In total, six provisions are dedicated to demonizing Israel as racist. (Daily News, Anne Bayefsky 30Jan09)
Long-term goals are embedded in Durban II’s plan. Already working concurrently in the UN General Assembly, President Miguel d’Escoto Brockman (from Guatemala) avowed that Israeli policies amount to apartheid and “must be outlawed” and met by a “campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions to pressure Israel.” In a word, Brockman and the UN majority want to bring destruction to Israel by economic death.
The intention is clear: the political defeat of Israel, in the same vein as apartheid South Africa, because repeated attempts at a military defeat of Israel have failed. (Ibid.)
Columnist Melanie Phillips warned that “Durban II is shaping up to be a vicious and racist onslaught against the human rights of the Jewish people accusing it of “apartheid, a crime against humanity and a form of genocide.” (theJC.com, 30Dec08)
THE LEADERS OF THE CONFERENCE
Durban II will be chaired by Libya, with Iran as the vicepresident of the executive committee of the drafting group, and Cuba as the rapporteur (producing the final official draft). Other major human-rights offenders involved are Pakistan – where religious minorities are widely and viciously persecuted, and Russia, which is rediscovering its dictatorial past.
Think about it: Choosing Libya – a country with no political parties and Iran – a state whose President has threatened to wipe Israel off the map – to lead an anti-racism conference!
A CALL FOR DEMOCRATIC NATIONS TO UNITE
There are voices in the West which are sounding the alarm. Florida’s Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who is a ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee warned, “Durban II has nothing to do with anti-racism and everything to do with attacking Israel and the Jewish people.”
“Free nations,” she continued, “should unite against violent radical Islamists and prevent the further manipulation of the UN to legitimize their extremist agenda. The U.S. and other responsible nations must stand up to the dictatorships that have hijacked much of the UN in general and Durban II in particular. Iran, Libya, Cuba, and their fellow repressive regimes at the UN continue to deny the Jewish state’s right to exist, and they aim, through Durban II and other UN efforts, to prevent Israel from defending itself.”
NO MENTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN DICTATORSHIPS
One can hardly fail to notice that in the Durban II draft there is no mention of the gross Jew-hatred and mass murder of Israelis by the Palestinians. (Over 1100 Israelis killed in terrorist attacks since the first Durban conference.)
There is no mention of any Arab or Muslim denial of human rights; no mention of the genocide in African nations; no condemnation of Arab states for barring to Jews; no condemnation of the Iranian threat of a second Holocaust. What about China, Burma, Zimbabwe, North Korea, to name a few? Or the current Islamic massacres in Sudan?
Think of the human rights abuses in Iran, Pakistan and Syria, the very countries heading up this charade, this travesty of a conference pretending to “bring justice” to the world.
ISLAMIC NATIONS ATTACK FREEDOM OF SPEECH
But there is more. This new draft being prepared for the Durban rerun is not a simple “Let’s destroy Israel only” presentation. It is at the same time a major attempt to outlaw all criticism of Islam and Islamic-bred violence.
The draft would brand all discussion of Islamic terrorism as “racism” or “xenophobia” (fear of strangers). The document declares all counter-terrorist surveillance of Islamic institutions to be “defamation of Muslims”.
Their definition of rights and freedoms means that whoever criticizes anything Islamic (but not any other religion) is advocating racial or religious hatred.
WESTERN POLITICIANS SOUND THE ALARM
Ros-Lehtinen, stated, “Because of the insidious efforts of… outlaw regimes and the inability or unwillingness of the UN system to prevent the enemies of freedom and human rights from hijacking the agenda, the Durban II conference is firmly on track to be an anti-America, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hate-fest.”
Melanie Phillips continues with “it is the UN and the architects of Durban II who are the racists and murderous bigots.” She challenges the democratic nations to stand up to Islamic agenda and “denounce this sick farce, and pull out now.” (Melanie Phillips, theJC.com, 30Dec08)
President Barack Obama, wanting more diplomatic interaction with the UN, had attempted to work with the Durban II committee to make the attacks against Israel palatable, but finally found that the document was hopelessly irreparable. According to his official press release, “The document being negotiated has gone from bad to worse, and the current text of the draft outcome document is not salvageable.” To his credit, Obama has pulled the United States out of the conference.
The United States, Israel, Canada and Italy so far are the only states who have decided they will not attend Durban II. The question is whether or not Europe will actually pull out of Durban II or just float down the river with the rest of the world.
IF THE WESTERN NATIONS HAD THE WILL….
And here is the irony of the UN’s outrageous perversion of fundamental human values. Without the financial support of the U.S. and a handful of other Western nations, the UN could accomplish exactly zero. The UN’s administrative costs are some $5 billion a year. The U.S. pays 22% of that.
And according to the Heritage Foundation which has done extensive research on U.S. aid to developing countries, the very countries that the U.S. subsidizes, usually vote against U.S. and democratic interests in the UN.
The Heritage Foundation concludes that funding non-democratic countries does not help the cause of freedom. What is even more shocking, is that most of the non-democratic countries that receive regular aid from the U.S. are in worse condition than they were several decades ago.
“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?” asks the Psalmist in Psalm 2. For world events to make sense at all, we must look into the spiritual realm. Without this perspective, we can only see nations acting irrationally and incomprehensibly.
FROM GOD’S POINT OF VIEW (HE DOES HAVE ONE)
So why? Why? Why? Why is Israel the center lightning rod to world rage? Why do evil regimes everywhere do as they please with no one reproving them, while Israel’s every move is condemned by the world?
Understand: It is not Israel they hate. It is the God who promised Israel the land of Israel. It is the Messiah they hate who was born – not in Palestine, but in Bethlehem, Israel. It is the Bible they hate which promises Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the land which today is claimed by Arabs who for a few short decades have given themselves the name “Palestinians”.
Arabs who could find a home in a dozen or more nations – where they speak the same language, eat the same food, have the same religion and culture – were it not that the ruler of this world, Satan, wants the Jewish people destroyed. Period.
He knows the Messiah who defeated him before eternity came from the Jewish people and will return to rule the world from Jerusalem! This infuriates Satan and he is determined to use whatever method possible to checkmate God’s plan.
If the Messiah had been born in Ghana, then there would be no anti-Semitism; there would be anti-Ghanaism. Since Israel was chosen by God, Satan has searched for willing vessels to annihilate her – whether it be Haman or Hitler.
Our part in these circumstances is to
(1) be aware,
(2) pray diligently for the peace of Jerusalem,
(3) help give the Jewish people the chance to hear the Gospel,
(4) warn others of the ferocious battle over the life of the Jewish nation, and for that matter, all worship of the One True God, the God of Israel. The Messiah will overcome with His saints, but not without a fight to the end.
Thank you for your fervent prayers,
Ari and Shira Sorko-Ram
Ari and Shira Sorko-Ram are the founders of Maoz Israel Ministries. The mission of MAOZ is: 1) To declare the Message of Messiah and make disciples in the city of Tel Aviv and throughout Israel. 2) To raise up Israeli leaders to prepare for the coming spiritual awakening among the people of Israel. 3) To educate and inform Christians world-wide of the strategic importance of Israel and the Jewish people in God’s plan for world revival. The MAOZ web site is https://www.maozisrael.org/.