A delegation of Jewish students arrived in Durban, South Africa, to present its views on racism around the world - and found itself the victim of similar prejudice. The group came to participate in the United Nations Student Conference, a student version of the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), which is scheduled to open tomorrow. The Jewish students were received so negatively by the UN group that they walked out in protest, and sent a letter of protest to the conference organizers.
Peleg Reshef, Chairman of the Union of Jewish Students, told Arutz-7 that he expected to encounter more openness and a willingness to hear opposing views at the Student Conference, but was greatly disappointed. \"We arrived to discuss racism, including anti-Semitism,\" he said, \"but we were soon convinced that the Conference\'s objective was only to single out the state of Israel as an example of racism.” He said that the problems began when the delegations first arrived: \"At the registration area we encountered a group of Arab students, with the help of two Jewish students, selling shirts emblazoned with anti-Israel slogans. We felt that something was amiss when we saw that the shirts included the official symbol of the Durban Conference, and so we asked the officials to intervene. They initially did nothing, but even after they requested that the sale of the shirts stop, it continued unabated.\"
More of the same occurred today. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators disrupted a press conference this afternoon called by 20 Jewish organizations in Durban to mark tomorrow\'s opening of the World Conference Against Racism. They chanted, \"Zionism is Racism, Israel is Apartheid.\" On the other hand, twenty Africans demonstrated in Eilat in favor of Israel this morning, saying that Israel is the only country that accepts them and does not discriminate against them because of their color.
Reshef summarized his feelings as follows: “You could say that we feel threatened by the extent of the hatred we encountered from the Arab and African delegations.\" When asked what was the purpose, then, of participation in such a forum, Reshef said, \"There are positive public relations aspects to our presence, particularly when we are able to present Israel’s case in the local and international media.\"
A group called the Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights has called upon the Conference to \"address and condemn the ideology of Radical Islamism - a deviation from Islam - as intolerant, xenophobic, racist, supremacist, discriminatory, anti-democratic, and genocidal. We also call upon the Conference to alert the international community to the widespread dangers of Radical Islamism\'s culture of animosity and destruction, and to… recognize that Radical Islamism is a totalitarian movement aimed at establishing a worldwide Radical Islamist state\" that would, among other things, support religious wars against non-Islamist Muslims and non-Muslim infidels worldwide and establish an Apartheid-like regime to subjugate and control infidels.
Peleg Reshef, Chairman of the Union of Jewish Students, told Arutz-7 that he expected to encounter more openness and a willingness to hear opposing views at the Student Conference, but was greatly disappointed. \"We arrived to discuss racism, including anti-Semitism,\" he said, \"but we were soon convinced that the Conference\'s objective was only to single out the state of Israel as an example of racism.” He said that the problems began when the delegations first arrived: \"At the registration area we encountered a group of Arab students, with the help of two Jewish students, selling shirts emblazoned with anti-Israel slogans. We felt that something was amiss when we saw that the shirts included the official symbol of the Durban Conference, and so we asked the officials to intervene. They initially did nothing, but even after they requested that the sale of the shirts stop, it continued unabated.\"
More of the same occurred today. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators disrupted a press conference this afternoon called by 20 Jewish organizations in Durban to mark tomorrow\'s opening of the World Conference Against Racism. They chanted, \"Zionism is Racism, Israel is Apartheid.\" On the other hand, twenty Africans demonstrated in Eilat in favor of Israel this morning, saying that Israel is the only country that accepts them and does not discriminate against them because of their color.
Reshef summarized his feelings as follows: “You could say that we feel threatened by the extent of the hatred we encountered from the Arab and African delegations.\" When asked what was the purpose, then, of participation in such a forum, Reshef said, \"There are positive public relations aspects to our presence, particularly when we are able to present Israel’s case in the local and international media.\"
A group called the Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights has called upon the Conference to \"address and condemn the ideology of Radical Islamism - a deviation from Islam - as intolerant, xenophobic, racist, supremacist, discriminatory, anti-democratic, and genocidal. We also call upon the Conference to alert the international community to the widespread dangers of Radical Islamism\'s culture of animosity and destruction, and to… recognize that Radical Islamism is a totalitarian movement aimed at establishing a worldwide Radical Islamist state\" that would, among other things, support religious wars against non-Islamist Muslims and non-Muslim infidels worldwide and establish an Apartheid-like regime to subjugate and control infidels.