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September 7, 2001/Elul 19, 5761, Vol. 53, No.48
Activists seek to place blame for U.N. forum
MICHAEL J. JORDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
DURBAN, South Africa - As the U.N. World Conference Against Racism lurches toward a conclusion, shell-shocked Jewish officials are lashing out at the parties they hold responsible for the virulent anti-Semitic and anti-Israel attacks there.
The Palestinians and the Arab world would be an obvious target for the Israel-bashing, except that the only surprising thing about their well-orchestrated propaganda campaign was its scope and intensity.
Rather, Jewish politicians and activists are venting their anger at the United Nations, governments, human rights groups and thousands of nongovernmental organizations perceived as complicit in the anti-Israel attacks, either by their support or by their silence.
On the grounds of the U.N. conference itself, the Arab Lawyers Union distributed pamphlets filled with grotesque caricatures of hook-nosed Jews depicted as Nazis, spearing Palestinian children, dripping blood from their fangs, with missiles bulging from their eyes or with pots of money nearby. Attempts to have the group's U.N. accreditation revoked were refused.
Under the tent where the final NGO declaration was approved over the weekend - a document that indicts Israel as a "racist, apartheid state" guilty of genocide and ethnic cleansing - fliers were found with a photo of Hitler and the following question: "What if Hitler had won? There would be no Israel, and no Palestinian bloodshed."
In a Palestinian-led march with thousands of participants, a placard was held aloft that read "Hitler Should Have Finished the Job." Nearby, someone was selling the most notorious of anti-Jewish tracts, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."
Many participants have sought to explain away such incidents as political speech or the work of "extremists."
In fact, there has been a confluence of factors, Jewish observers say.
Among them:
- Many delegates who are ignorant or naive about the Middle East have been bombarded with extreme demonization of Israel and the Jews.
- An anti-America, anti-globalization animus from the Third World - fueled by a speech from Cuban President Fidel Castro and the perceived U.S. refusal to discuss reparations for slavery - may have been projected onto Israel as America's ally.
- The ambitions of U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, who may need to curry favor with the Arab world if she hopes to replace Kofi Annan as U.N. secretary-general.
- The ease and convenience of scapegoating a tiny minority - 13 million Jews - for many of the world's ills.
The U.S. delegation did its talking with its feet, walking out Sept. 3 when it appeared that the official governmental declaration would single out Israel for criticism. The Israeli delegation followed suit, walking out Sept. 3 as well.
The Jewish caucus announced its official withdrawal on Sept. 4, although some activists indicated they would remain as unofficial observers.
JTA correspondent Matthew E. Berger in New York contributed to this report.
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