Unconfirmed: Durban II draft drops criticism of Israel
The Minisistry for Foreign Affairs in Canberra expects to receive the revised text for the anti-racism Durban II Conference this week…but reports from Israel say that the criticism of Israel has been dropped.
A spokesperson for Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told J-Wire this morning: “Obviously we cannot comment on what we have not seen. Nothing can be said or done until the revised text has been received and studied.”
Durban I degenerated into an anti-Israel, antisemitic hatefest. Durban II, scheduled for late next month in Geneva, is expected, in its format before the waited-for revision, to repeat the same anti-Israel sentiment.
Also allegedly dropped from the text is the “defamation of religion passage”. It is understood that the pending changes may well be sufficient to satisfy some countries currently undecided about attending. It is also understood that the new text still refers to “the plight of the Palestinian peeple under foreign occupation.”
