The Durban Conference 25 years later: A blueprint for anti-Israel demonization – interview

The 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, known as the "Durban Conference," is widely considered the origin of modern anti-Israel rhetoric, according to Gerald Steinberg, founder of NGO Monitor. The conference, particularly its preceding NGO Forum, established a blueprint for accusing Israel of "genocide," "war crimes," and "apartheid." The US and Israel walked out of the conference due to its anti-Zionist agenda, which included calls to restore UN Resolution 3379 equating Zionism with racism. Steinberg states, "Durban was the blueprint for accusing Israel of genocide and starvation and war crimes." The strategies developed at Durban have been refined over 25 years, influencing the BDS movement and the use of the International Criminal Court to target Israel. The conference also featured overt antisemitism, including the sale of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," which spurred the development of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's Working Definition of Antisemitism.