Why hosting Durban IV is shameful

After experiencing an unprecedented paroxysm of violence, looting, and ethnic warfare, Durban is about to become the epicentre of another shameful event, the Durban IV World Conference against Racism, scheduled for 22 September.

This year’s event marks the 20th anniversary of the notorious 2001 Durban Conference, which will go down in history as possibly the most openly antisemitic hate fest since World War II. Contrary to its intended purpose, the Durban Conference actively promoted antisemitism, racism, intolerance, and Holocaust denial, and blamed only Israel out of all the nations on earth for giving birth to a “new type of apartheid”, thereby denying its right to exist.

It’s unsurprising that South Africa is host to such an abhorrent event. Its policies, in which it singles out the Jewish state for all the ills that have befallen the Palestinians, give succour to the strident voices seeking scapegoats.

Since 2012, when the department of international relations and co-operation’s Ebrahim discouraged any official contact with Israel, effectively closing the door to any exposure to the Israeli narrative, intolerance and ignorance about Israel have reigned supreme.

By the company that the African National Congress keeps – dictators from Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, and Hamas – it has made known where it stands, namely anti-Western and anti-Zionist. It goes further, however, when the only country it excludes from even talking to happens to be the only Jewish state. Then, South Africa complies with the definition of being antisemitic.

Durban IV’s official theme will be “Reparations, racial justice, and equality for people of African descent”. It will be interesting to see whether Israel receives credit for being the only country in the world to come to the rescue of “black Africans” in Ethiopia and Yemen.

To the credit of at least 11 democratic countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, France, and the Czech Republic, they have already announced that they won’t be attending the upcoming conference.

South Africa recently disgraced itself when it came out against the progress made under the Abraham Accords, and condemned Israel’s observer status in the African Union. Even with low expectations for Durban IV, South Africa is unlikely to cover itself in glory. The only question is how low it will stoop to ingratiate itself with the real bigots, racists, and antisemites.