UN adopts Durban resolution despite antisemitic legacy of anti-Zionist declaration

The UN adopted a resolution calling for the full implementation of the 2001 Durban Declaration, despite arguments that it platforms antisemitism and hatred of Israel.

On Monday, the UN General Assembly formally adopted the new political declaration and draft resolution (A/81/L.4) with 95 countries voting in favor, 5 against, and 37 abstaining. Argentina, Australia, Canada, Micronesia, and Israel voted against. The United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and various members of the European Union abstained.

The draft calls for the comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Program of Action (DDPA). The core focus is on reparatory justice, national anti-racism policies, and protections against racial profiling and structural bias embedded within contemporary technologies.

During the debate, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, condemned the attempt to grant further legitimacy to the Durban Conference, 25 years after it took place.

Danon recalled that images of Hitler were circulated during the conference, Zionism was equated with racism, and Jewish participants were physically assaulted. He also noted that during this year’s gathering, Iran’s representative described Zionism as a “doctrine of supremacy.”

Durban Conference became a platform for antisemitism, hatred of Israel

“The Durban Conference was supposed to combat racism, but instead became a platform for antisemitism and hatred of Israel," said Danon. "Twenty-five years later, the United Nations continues to celebrate this disgrace and attempts to rewrite history."

"Israel will not support a resolution that legitimizes antisemitism under the guise of fighting racism. Durban’s legacy deserves no further recognition, no further celebration, and no further legitimacy. It is time to remove this stain from the United Nations once and for all.”

This follows recent 25th anniversary celebrations of the 2001 Durban Conference at the United Nations.

As a result of campaigning by Danon and Israel's Foreign Ministry, a record number of 46 countries boycotted the 25th-anniversary events.

According to Mike Waltz, US ambassador to the UN, the US walked out "in protest, as we did at the original conference in 2001."

Original South African conference boycotted by Israel, US

The original World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, was notoriously boycotted midway through by both Israel and the United States.

During the 2001 events, Jewish attendees faced physical harassment, and thousands of copies of the conspiracy theory antisemitic text The Protocols of the Elders of Zion were openly distributed. Images of Adolf Hitler were also circulated.

The conference has since become synonymous with discrimination of the anti-Zionist kind, and is considered by many the birthplace of modern anti-Israel rhetoric.

Preceding the conference was the NGO Forum, which had over 7,000 participants gather to create a pre-planned and coordinated anti-Israel strategy. It was here that the intentional use of words such as “genocide,” “war crimes,” and “apartheid” entered the scene.

While Israel is not explicitly cited or mentioned by name in the newly updated text of the resolution, it continues to object due to the text's explicit mandate to "reaffirm" the original 2001 Durban Declaration and Program of Action (DDPA) in its entirety.

Israel argues that it is the only specific country or geopolitical conflict implicitly criticized within the DDPA.