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Obama Team Gets One Right: Pulls out of Durban II

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Just two days ago, I blogged how the Obama Administration, in striving to “fit in” to the planning sesssion for the United Nations Durban II conference on racism, preferred “being liked” to standing up against the conference’s labeling Israel as the primary source of racism in the world.

Well, there’s some good news today.  The Administration has reversed course and is pulling out of the conference:

White House aides told Jewish leaders on a conference call today that the United States will boycott the United Nations’ World Conference on Racism over hostility to Israel in draft documents prepared for the April conference.

The aides, including an advisor to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, Jennifer Simon, and longtime Obama advisor Samantha Power, said the administration will not participate in further negotiations on the current text or participate in a conference based on the text, sources on the call said.

(Emphasis added. Via The Weekly Standard.)  Kudos to the Administration for acknolwedging the hostility to Israel expressed in these documents as the reason for their withdrawal.

Ed Morrissey believes Stephen Harper stands to benefit the most; the Canadian Prime Minister “took a lot of heat” for refusing to participate at the outset.  He knew that it would be a repeat of the Israel-bashing which defined the initial conference eight years ago:

The conference reprises the 2001 conference in Durban, South Africa that devolved into an anti-Jewish free-for-all. Canada and Israel have opted not to attend the conference, and some U.S. Jewish groups had been pressing the United States to do the same.

Preparations for a draft document so far have seen Iran leading a coterie of nations blocking inclusion of anything that might guarantee Jewish protections — including mention of the Holocaust — while inserting draconian language guarding Islam against “insult.”

I’m delighted to see the United States joining Canada and Israel in boycotting a conference where a rogue nation like Iran would have so much influence.  It’s nice to be able to praise the president and his team on a job well done.

Comments

  2. This whole attempt to attend Durbin was a trial balloon to see how far Obama could go in rejecting US support for Israel. Hillary’s sudden admission of her disdain for the Jewish state was the straw that broke the camel’s back. If they could get away with it, they would attend Durban and join the Muslim backed condemnation of Israel. For now, they have realized they can’t get away with it. There is no moral acclimation due this administration; this was a deliberate orchestraed attempt.

  6. wow, just inadvertantly linked. glad to see you guys are out there. i.e. it does not matter. race, s.o., whatever, we must stop pelosi’s, reids’s, obama’s socialistic/fascist effort together. (me: straight, married male).

  8. If they really wanted to sack up, they’d boycott the UN, particularly the “human rights council” or whatever pun they call themselves these days.

    opportunities to congratulate Obama for doing the right thing are going to be few and far between, so congratulations for doing the right thing after doing the wrong thing.

    Didn’t I read somewhere that the administration is funneling money to rebuild Gaza through the PA? Sorry, still not buying it.

    And where are the “tolerant” libs on this thread? Surely Boob can regale us with irrelevant stories about how businesses (Enron, Global Crossing, WorldComm etc.) do so much better under liberal assministrations.

  9. There’s a big difference between doing the right thing because it’s the right thing… and doing the right thing because your supporters went hysterical and you were afraid you’d lose their votes and fundraising for good.

  10. John, Elecphant, GayConservative Dave P.
    Total agreement. The conference sounds silly, even without the anti-Israel slant. Obama is supposed to be the great global hope on race. Boycotting a conference is the easy way out. He should have sent Hillary and told her to defended Israel and America in front of all those folks.