Israel Matzav

Wiesenthal Center slams Germany for participating in Durban III

In a sharply worded letter, the Simon Wiesenthal Center on Thursday slammed the German government for its plans to participate in the Durban III lynch mob in New York later this month.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, “As one of the spokesmen for the Jewish groups at the anti-Semitic hatefest that was Durban I in South Africa – as well watching the UN bestow the opening Speech of Durban II in Geneva to Ahmadinejad – a leader openly committed to the Jewish state’s destruction, I am deeply shocked that Berlin is dithering until the last moment instead of taking the lead to defund and shut down the Durban Process once and for all.”

Dithering to the last moment? Why does Cooper think they won't participate in the end?

The Wiesenthal letter was sent to Ambassador Peter Wittig, Germany’s top diplomat at the UN. Cooper and Mark Weitzman, the Wiesenthal Center’s director of governmental affairs, wrote, “We are contacting you to express our deep consternation and outrage that Germany has not yet decided to boycott the 10th anniversary of the so-called Durban process. From the outset in August 2011, the World Conference Against Racism has served to facilitate the canard that Israel is an apartheid state, and more recently, provided a keynote platform for Iran’s President Ahmadinejad, who openly calls for the annihilation of the Jewish state.”

The letter concluded: “We urge Germany to immediately announce that it will not attend next month’s Durban event at the United Nations in New York, and to urge all other members of the European Union to follow suit.”

Now you're really getting into the wishful thinking department. France? Britain? Spain?

Asked about Austria’s decision and the Wiesenthal letter, a spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s administration wrote the Post on Wednesday that “traditionally, the federal government does not comment on the decisions of other countries.”

The spokeswoman referred to a statement from Germany’s Foreign Ministry about its slated participation in Durban III. The statement reads that Germany is working to “prevent the Durban process from being used to pillory Israel.”

Well, good luck with that.

Germany, of all countries, should be the first to boycott an anti-Semitic gathering. They have a moral duty to boycott (and don't tell me that it was 70 years ago - they wiped out a third of the Jews of Europe and that kind of number lasts many generations). Their behavior is despicable whether Merkel's responsible for it or her incompetent foreign minister Guido Westerweille (on whom they keep trying to pin it) is responsible for it.

Labels: Angela Merkel, Durban III, Germany, Guido Westerwelle

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:47 PM