Bulgaria is the latest country to announce that it will be boycotting the upcoming Durban IV conference taking place in September.
“Bulgaria will not participate in the UNGA high-level meeting on the Durban Declaration and Plan of Action,” tweeted Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry. “Given the history of the process, there’s a risk that the forum could be misused for anti-Semitic propaganda. We stay committed to fighting racism in all its forms and manifestation.”
Israeli Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations Gilad Erdan commended Bulgaria for its decision not to participate in the conference, which will mark 20 years since the World Conference Against Racism in Durban that infamously descended into an anti-Semitic and anti-Israel hatefest.
“Thank you Bulgaria! The Jewish people appreciate your friendship,” Erdan tweeted.
Durban IV will take place in late September amid the opening session of the 76th United Nations General Assembly.
By refusing to attend the conference, Bulgaria joins a significant list of countries who have stated their intention not to attend, including Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Germany.
All Durban conferences, including the upcoming Durban IV event, "reaffirm" the original Durban Declaration in its entirety, Jewish groups have noted.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) described the original conference as being “permanently tainted as a notorious vehicle to promote anti-Semitism and incite hatred against Israel.”
Commemorating the original Durban conference is “outrageous and shameful,” said the ADL.
In May, the Biden administration was denounced for breaking with past precedent distancing the US from Durban over endemic anti-Semitism when it signed on to a United Nations Human Rights Council statement lauding the notorious 2001 conference. One hundred and fifty other countries also signed the declaration.
The White House was later commended by Jewish groups when it stated the US would not be attending Durban IV.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)