The UN Spends Our Money Bashing Canadian Jews

Update: The Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy has withdrawn its application to attend the UN Conference on racism. Nice start to the Conference: The Jews have been successfully excluded.

A couple of weeks ago, the glorious UN began its two-week preparatory session for the "Durban II" World Conference on Racism that will take place next year. I'm sure all of you are VERY excited, right? So how does this preparatory session begin? Well, channeling the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, there was a two-and-a-half hour fight about whether or not the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy, an NGO, should be accredited and allowed to attend the conference. According to the National Review's Anne Bayefsky, this took up roughly three-quarters of the entire opening day.

So, yeah, the first day of the newest World crusade against racism was spent, um, trying to keep the Jews out. The fact that the world insists on spending so much of its time thinking about us Jews is just so empowering in a way. Who led this latest obsession with the Children of Israel? Why, Iran, of course, with Egypt, Pakistan, Algeria and the delegation from the Palestinian Authority in tow.* Progressive, anti-racist nations, right? Dr. King would be so proud.

In case there was any doubt that satire has been rendered obsolete, the reasoning behind the opposition made me fall out of my chair:

"Ezrin said Iran is objecting in part because the Canadian Council is not involved in anti-racism or anti-discrimination work."

As opposed to Iran, which is totally the world's bastion of tolerance and anti-discrimination (this is at least partly true, I guess -- they don't discriminate against Holocaust Deniers). Just ask all of Iran's apparently non-existent homosexuals.

Of course, this would be the perfect opportunity for SOMEBODY to point out that Iran (and its lackeys) are supporting the overtly racist PA (since, as we've discussed several times, one has to be an Arab to be a Palestinian under the PLO Covenant). But such things only happen in my fantasies, I suppose.

To add more hilarity, according to Bayefsky, "Algeria was concerned about Jewish money, or 'their sources of funding.'" Gotta watch out for those perfidious Jews and their Jew money, right? Some might think that's a rather ironic statement to be making during a preparatory session for a conference that's supposed to be fighting bigotry, old prejudices and intolerance, but I just see it as further proof that we don't need comedy writers to be adequately entertained.

Not to be outdone, the Palestinian Authority Representative argued that "the NGO supported Israeli settlements and no NGO supporting an illegal activity could be involved in Durban II." First the settlements are NOT illegal for various reasons (but that's far too boring to cover in this Note). Second, that statement is rather ludicrous given the PA's overt use and support of numerous indisputably illegal activities, most notably war crimes and crimes against humanity arising from attacks aimed exclusively at civilians. The idea that the representative of a "government" led by HAMAS, which prides itself on breaking the rules of war and civilization, could oppose anything based on "illegal activities" and do so with a straight face is really quite astounding.

Finally, Bayefsky reported that "Algeria and Egypt voiced their support for rejecting this NGO’s accreditation on the basis that inclusion would be 'political' and 'politics must be set aside.'" That is just awesome beyond words.

So to recap, the first day preparing for the World Racism Conference was spent trying to keep the Jews out and making ridiculous and often overtly anti-Jewish remarks. All in a day's work at the UN. And the best part is, THEY SCHEDULED ANOTHER DEBATE on the issue for next week. So even more time and money (wouldn't be surprised if it's most of the day again) will be wasted bickering about whether or not to let the Jews in. Just so empowering. I love it.

*It is well-known, of course, that Iran loves Jews.

Let the Truth Come Out At Durban II

So apparently we're gearing up for the next big World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa in 2009, and the US, Israel and Canada are already talking about boycotting the thing if the text of the declaration isn't to their liking. I remember the first Durban love-fest from eight years ago, right before 9/11. Back then, this conference that was supposed to be about WORLD racism got bogged down with petty fights and the usual accusations against Israel, instead of, you know, actually talking about racism. So the US and Israel got all huffy puffy and bolted the thing (with the contemptible Shimon Peres of course expressing his oh so deep regret at having to do so).

This, of course, accomplished little, and only allowed the anti-Israel crowd to express their hatred before a worldwide forum with no opposition (the most vicious stuff actually took place at an NGO Forum outside the boundaries of the conference).

And now they're doing the same thing again. The US, Israel and Canada are all puffing their chests and threatening to boycott if the World doesn't do a good enough job of pretending it has something other than hatred for Israel.

This type of thing happens all the time with the UN -- the best example was the 16 years of political arm-twisting to get enough countries to pretend to repeal the infamous "Zionism is a form of racism" General Assembly resolution (I don't think that resolution was ever TRULY repealed, but that's a topic for another day). I just don't get it.

To me, there's nothing wrong with having the truth on display. If the world thinks Zionism is racism, or that the Holocaust (capital "H") isn't unique, fine. Let them say that. I want to know how they REALLY feel. Don't make back room deals to get them to lie while thinking the nasty thoughts (and ultimately acting on them) anyway. Heck, the UN doesn't even try to hide its feelings most of the time. It spends literally 1/3 of its time either condemning Israel or basking the suffering of the Palestinians, who are, of course, the most unjustly oppressed minority on the planet (if only the blacks in Darfur realized how good they have it!). Every November 29 (the anniversary of the 1947 General Assembly Partition Resolution), the UN celebrates its annual "Day of Solidarity With the Palestinian People." Seriously. So let them say what they want at conference. If nothing else, it will probably be immensely entertaining.

The proper response is not to boycott this circus, but to send your toughest folks over there to rub the barbarians' face in their idiocy with the whole world watching. I'd love it for once for somebody from Israel or the other parts of the civilized world to say "Zionism is racism? Are you retarded? There are Israelis of virtually every race on the planet. If you want so real racism, read the PLO Covenant, which explicitly states in Article 5 that you have to be an Arab (a RACE) in order to be considered a Palestinian. That's some bitchin' old-school racism right there. Talking about Zionism, which has absolutely nothing to do with race, at a conference on racism is just downright nutty." The response to that would probably be worth the price of admission alone.

Israel's Media Problems

Pro-Israel friends often ask me why the media is so "biased" against Israel. My response is usually that Israel does such an inadequate job of advocating its case to the world that really, who could blame the media? In most situations, Israel allows the terms of the debate to be framed in such a manner that it's almost impossible to logically lead to a pro-Israel viewpoint.

The pathetic and wrong-headed Israeli response to a recent resolution passed by the Human Rights Commission is a perfect example of this. That resolution "demands the lifting of the blockade on Gaza and calls for international action to protect Palestinian civilians."

Instead of defending its blockade as a legitimate weapon of war against a terror gang hell-bent on its destruction, Israel "was busy lobbying UNSC member countries to amend the draft presidential statement to include condemnation of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel, which the original neglects to mention."

So in effect, what we have is one side saying "Israel is taking illegal, illegitimate actions," and the other side, rather than defending the actions it is taking, meekly responds "you must condemn both sides." This is almost always the Israeli response to UN resolutions -- yeah, we may have done something wrong, but condemn both sides, please. Is it any wonder that so many people come out of such a discussion with an anti-Israel viewpoint?

Hamas and its fellow terror gangs have been firing rockets into Israel from Gaza for years. They established full control over Gaza earlier this year and have said on numerous occasions that they will continue their attacks in one form or another until Israel is destroyed. This is war. And the effects of that war have been felt dramatically in Sderot, which even apart from physical casualties, has been completely crippled economically (though both the media and the UN have largely ignored THAT humanitarian crisis).

Israel is in a war right now, and a blockade has always been accepted as a legitimate way of fighting a war -- cutting off the enemy's access to resources and supplies until he agrees to stop fighting -- even if civilians suffer the effects. One of the primary weapons the Union used against the Confederacy during the Civil War was a blockade, and Confederate cities were often besieged and cut off until they surrendered. I daresay that the residents of Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1863 would probably scoff at the fabricated "humanitarian crisis" that Gaza purports to face today.

But nothing like that ever comes out of the mouths of Israeli diplomats.