Israel urges boycott of UN Durban Conference's 25th anniversary

Israel has urged countries to boycott the United Nations' 25th-anniversary commemoration of the Durban Conference, scheduled for September 28 in New York. Israel's Ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Daniel Meron, stated that the 2001 conference was "the epicenter of virulent antisemitism unseen since the Holocaust" and that by celebrating it, "the United Nations continues to convey the message that singling out Israel is standard UN playbook." The original conference in South Africa was criticized for descending into antisemitism, with a parallel NGO declaration branding Israel a "racist, apartheid state" and calling for its international isolation. The U.S. also opposes the commemoration, with Chargé d’Affaires Jim Merz noting that the U.S. voted against the General Assembly proposal, emphasizing that multilateral institutions can be "captured by the very hatreds they were created to confront."