Source: http://www.ujc.org/page.aspx?id=194356 http://www.ujc.org/page.aspx?id=194356
Date: February 17, 2009

UJC MEETS WITH WHITE HOUSE AND 
TOP JEWISH LEADERS ABOUT DURBAN II
 
Feb. 17, 2009
UJC/Jewish Federations of North America participated on a conference call Monday with the White House, State Department and other Jewish organizations to hear directly from the Obama administration about U.S. participation in planning discussions for the controversial UN World Conference Against Racism. 
The Geneva conference, scheduled for April, has been dubbed Durban II, in reference to the 2001 conference, which was held in Durban, South Africa. The U.S. withdrew from that conference when it became apparent that it was becoming a vehicle for widespread anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist propaganda.
The State Department issued a statement on Saturday stating: The intent of our participation is to work to try to change the direction in which the Review Conference is heading. We hope to work with other countries that want the Conference to responsibly and productively address racism around the world. Our participation in these informal negotiations does not indicate – and should not be misconstrued to indicate – that the United States will participate in April in the World Conference Against Racism itself.
The purpose of this conference call was to better understand where the administration stands, said William Daroff, vice president for public policy and director of UJC Washington. We hope the administration will be successful in changing the direction of the conference away from being an anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist rally led by the ‘Blame Israel First’ crowd, and that if they are unsuccessful in changing the course of the conference, that the United States will vehemently, vocally, and vigorously condemn it and withdraw from it.
UJC will continue to monitor developments around the conference in order to continue representing the federation system's interests on this issue.