SEPTEMBER 16 • 2021 | 21
eral flyers lauding Hitler and
indicating that the outcomes
would have been favorable had
he won — including no Israel.
Neturei Karta — opponents of
Zionism — stood in the streets
showing their own placards
declaring that Zionism was
not Judaism and the like, shar-
ing the demonstrations with
real Jew-haters.
The atmosphere in the huge
and impressive media center
was, fortunately, very different.
There was a direct feed of all
the public proceedings, as
only a few journalists could be
accommodated in the confer-
ence hall.
I personally did not
encounter any direct violence,
although there was some
around the NGO conference.
But the atmosphere at the
Jewish Club was at times tense,
with a police presence outside,
as rumors circulated of possi-
ble violence against it (which
never materialized).
Q: How would you summa-
rize or characterize the Durban
Conference and its proceedings?
MB: I would offer three
main points:
The Conference opened the
way to public Jew-hatred after
more than 50 years of such
hatred skulking largely under-
ground in the West: Open
antisemitism was just not
polite, as opposed to the usual
camouflage of anti-Zionism.
Clear examples of this change
can be seen in the Jews target-
ed physically last May during
the Gaza war and, more dis-
turbingly, the tolerance of the
blatant antisemitism of the
“Squad” in U.S. Congress.
It resulted in wide accep-
tance of the old antisemitic
view that the Jews (sorry,
Zionists) were the source of
all evil in the world. It became
almost conventional wisdom
in all too many public and pri-
vate circles.
It demonstrated the
extent to which uncritical
Palestinianism has become
the leitmotif of the interna-
tional left. As a result, all other
human rights issues since have
been pushed aside, including
the Uyghur genocide in China.
Unfortunately, this still holds,
and Durban IV will simply
replay the old themes.
Q: Did you attend Durban
II or III? If so, what was your
experience?
MB: No, I did not, as they
were held in other countries.
Interestingly, though, I
covered the U.N. Sustainable
Development Conference in
2002 in Johannesburg for JTA.
Both the conference organizers
and the South African author-
ities appeared to have learned
something from the previous
year’s fiasco. An attempt was
made by the Palestinians and
their supporters to hijack this
conference as well, but their
attempts failed, although the
issue still formed a significant
part of the proceedings.
Q: In your opinion, what is
the legacy of Durban I?
MB: To put it crudely, I don’t
believe the Durban legacy was
unique or special — it merely
lanced the boil that had come
to a head, letting all the poison
out. The U.N. legacy, how-
ever, for moer than 50 years,
has been one of overt racism
against the Jews and Israel.
Q: What are your expecta-
tions for the upcoming 20th
anniversary celebration of
Durban I?
MB: Same old, with possi-
bly some new wrinkles, if the
bearers of the burden of hate
have enough imagination. If
not, more of the same.
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