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26 Av 5761 - August 15, 2001 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
South African Jews Gear Up For Racism Conference
by D. Saks

The South African Jewish community, headed by its political arm, the Jewish Board of Deputies, is at the center of efforts to coordinate the input of international Jewry to the forthcoming World Conference Against Racism. Over 20,000 delegates are expected to attend the conference, which commences in the South African coastal city of Durban on August 31. Amongst the Jewish organizations expected to attend are the World Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League and the British Board of Deputies.

The central concern of the Jewish world has been that Arab and Islamic groupings plan to use the conference as a platform from which to demonize and isolate the State of Israel. The infamous United Nations resolution equating Zionism with racism was passed shortly after resolutions taken at a similar anti-racism conference in the early 1970s.

While the South African government has no power to influence the conference agenda, the ruling African National Congress has historically strong ties with the Palestinian Liberation Organization. The South African media gave comprehensive coverage to lobbying efforts by the radical Palestinian Solidarity Committee which called for Israel to be targeted at the conference. By contrast, a statement by the Jewish Board of Deputies condemning the attempts by the anti-Israel lobby to exploit the conference for its own ends and pointing out the hypocrisy inherent in countries with human rights records like Iran and Afghanistan leading such a drive, was ignored by the mainstream press.

The Board of Deputies role in the conference consists mainly in supervising the logistics of Jewish participation, including the arrangement of transport, accommodation, workshops and kosher catering. The Durban Jewish Club, headquarters of the city's 3000-strong Jewish community, has been given the status of an official conference venue. The Board has also lobbied the South African government, meeting with Foreign Minister Dr. Nkosasana Dlamini Zuma and strongly protesting the anti-Israel statements made by representatives of SANGOCO, an umbrella body coordinating the Non-Government Organization conference. SANGOCO representatives recently visited the Palestinian territories on a "fact-finding mission," during which they met with Palestinian representatives but declined to meet with Israeli officials.

 

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