U.S. wises up: White House pulls the plug on U.S. participation in shameful Durban hatefest
March 1, 2009
The New York Daily News
Original Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/03/01/2009-03-01_us_wises_up_white_house_pulls_the_plug_o.html
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President Obama is pulling out of Durban II, the United Nations anti-racism conference that was hijacked long ago by freedom-hating, anti-Israel, anti-American interests. It's the right call, even if it was long in coming.
The infamous first Durban conference in 2001 took every opportunity to label all criticism of Islam a crime and to condemn one country, Israel, over and again. The statements and open anti-Semitism prompted then-Secretary of State Colin Powell to withdraw America's delegation. 
More recently, the likes of Libya, Iran and Cuba began planning a reprise. Rightly, the U.S. tried to block UN funding for the conference. But then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did not follow Canada and Israel in refusing to participate. 
The Obama administration sent representatives to planning sessions, long after working documents were filled with attacks on Israel as racist in its relations with Palestinians, as well as with planks urging states to bar the defamation of religion. 
Secretary of State Clinton said diplomats would try to get the conference on the right track. It was a fool's errand. So now, senior officials say the U.S. will not participate unless the event magically changes course. The draft agenda was described as unsalvageable. 
Indeed it is. The U.S. must lend no more credibility to this looming platform for anti-Semitism.