Rosh Hashanah 2009 - South African Jewish Board of Deputies

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JEWISH AFFAIRS ROSH HASHANAH 2009throughout.Day One of the DRC on Monday, 20 April,started with a bang thanks to Ahmadinejad. As theonly Head of State present, the privilege of deliveringthe first of the speeches by participating countrieswas his. His address featured all the extremist anti-Israel language and antisemitic sentiment that hadmade the 2001 event so problematic. Ahmadinejadhad already acquired a well-deserved reputation as aHolocaust Denier, and now further confirmed it byaccusing Israel of occupying Palestinian territories“on the pretext of Jewish suffering”. Amongst otherincendiary statements, he further accused Israel ofestablishing a “cruel and repressive racist regime”over Palestinians.It was gratifying indeed to see the massive walkoutthat followed when Ahmadinejad began todemonise Israel and Zionists, resulting in a visiblyempty hall. Representatives of most EU countries, aswell as from Morocco, Jordan and even the PalestinianAuthority (almost certainly for political reasons,given Iran’s support for the rival Hamas faction,rather than as a protest over the anti-Israel sentiment)took part. The Foreign Minister of Norway stronglyrebuked the Ahmadinejad speech when it was histurn to speak and his condemnation was supportedby South African Foreign Minister Dlamini Zuma inher remarks. Other delegates and officials in thecourse of the next few days similarly criticizedAhmadinejad. It should be noted, however, thatwhile the walk out was effective; there were countriesthat applauded Ahmadinejad’s statements.The IJC was incensed that a man representing acountry inflicting such grotesque human rightsviolations (besides his Holocaust Denial and ‘wipeIsrael off the map’ pronouncements) could be allowedto be one of the introductory speakers at a conferencepurporting to be further the causes of human rightsand opposing racism. That a notorious HolocaustDenier had spoken on the very eve of Yom Hashoahcompounded the outrage we all felt.Encouraging from a South African point of viewwas Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Nkosazana DlaminiZuma’s support for the Norwegian Foreign Ministercondemnation of the Ahmadinejad speech, with hercomments that the forum was not a place for “hatredThe author and Marc Pozniak at the Yom Hashoahceremony, Geneva, 2009.and finger pointing” and her mention of the Shoah.Also interesting to us as South Africans was thereading of a message from Nelson Mandela about thevalues of anti- racism and the importance of thisconference. I was pleased that a senior South Africangovernment representative attended the three-hourYom Hashoah ceremony on the Monday night of theconference.The Yom Hashoah ceremony, organised by theGeneva Jewish community, with thousands gatheringin the square in front of the Palais de Nations(headquarters of the UN) for the occasion. Memorablemoments were the magnificent Yizkor loudlyproclaiming our grief outside the gates of the UN, theimpassioned speeches by Eli Wiesel, Irwin Cotlerand French philosopher Bernard Henri Levy and achildren’s choir singing the Partisans’ Song as thecrowd held up candles. It was an opportunity to focuson the real issues of human rights and to mourn a timewhen these were completely forgotten.The conference document was formally adoptedon Tuesday, Day Two of the DRC, and this wasfollowed by submissions by all the countries present.The government submissions included a long stringof condemnations of Ahmadinejad’s offensiveaddress, mainly coming from Argentina, Ukraine,the UK, France, Sweden and Spain, as well as fromAustria, Lithuania and the Holy See. The UNSecretary General and High Commissioner Pillaywere also highly critical.The last country to present their submission wasIran who, as anticipated, was quite unrepentant forits leader’s actions. Its representative heavilycriticized Norway and other countries that hadattacked Ahmadinejad, invoked ‘freedom ofexpression as a human right’ and called for countries31
JEWISH AFFAIRS ROSH HASHANAH 2009Members of the International Jewish Caucus team inaction during the United Nations Durban ReviewConference.to cease from making ‘judgmental remarks’.In the final Declaration eventually adopted by theconference, the reference to Antisemitism wasretained (par. 12), and the reference to the Holocaustwas actually strengthened by urging all states toimplement the General Assembly resolutions callingfor Holocaust commemoration and condemningHolocaust denial (par. 66). The controversial“Defamation of Religion” clause, which was intendedby its sponsors as stifling criticism of Islam, wasexcluded. However, there was an indirect referenceto Israel in a paragraph calling for the need to addressthe problems arising from ‘foreign occupation’ (par.5), which is UN-speak for Gaza and the West Banksituation.Marc and I had two outstanding meetings onTuesday. First, we met with Advocate TselisoThipanyane, CEO of the SA Human RightsCommission, who was in Geneva to present thesubmission on behalf of similar Human Rightsadvocacy bodies from around the world. He spentconsiderable time briefing us on human rights andNGOs in South Africa, as well providing us withsome fascinating insights on the DRC itself.That evening, we met with the SA governmentdelegation for a very warm and informative session.Beulah Naidoo, a senior member of the delegationand Chairperson at the Regional Preparatory meetingfor the DRC in Abuja, gave us a full briefing on manyissues and allowed us an opportunity to ask questionsand receive clarification on issues of relevance to theIJC. We also had an opportunity to speak withMinister Dlamini Zuma and the SA Ambassador tothe UN.The Darfur protest rally, organized by theEuropean Jewish students in tandem with Darfurvictims, was one of the highlights of Day Two.Holding banners, wearing t-shirts and distributingmaterials, the protestors stood on the edge of thesquare in front of the Palais de Nations andcommunicated their messages to passing traffic andpedestrians. A lone anti-Israel protester sheepishlyleft after being confronted by the Darfuri participants.I attended a symposium in a venue next to thePlenary Hall entitled “Antisemitism and Intolerance:In the Here and Now”. Speakers included NobelLaureate Elie Wiesel, Professor Alan Dershowitz,the renowned actor Jon Voight, Professor Steele,Father Patrick Desbois (who works with EastEuropean countries to find Jewish bodies that did notreceive a suitable burial and seeks to remedy this)and Natan Sharansky. The venue was completelycrammed, to the extent that people had to be turnedaway. I chatted with Dershowitz afterwards, tellinghim of the row his statements re Tutu had caused inSA and asking for clarification. He confirmed that hehad called Tutu a “racist and a bigot” and that he fullystood by this.Geneva woke up to Day Three of the DRC whileSouth Africans were waking up to Election Day.Once again, there was great activity in the IJC caucusoffices as we frantically set about preparing statementsfor the session. One of these was an NGO sessionwith UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay, in whichaccredited NGOs would be asking questions. One ofthe questions was submitted on behalf of the SAJBD.A number of interesting points came out of thissession. It was notable that no overtly anti-Israelquestions were posed, which would certainly nothave been the case in 2001. A representative from aFrench African NGO asked a lengthily question inwhich he condemned pro-Palestinian groups forhijacking the conference and detracting from thevoices of the real victims. Sitting opposite us (anddoing exceptional networking at the conference)was a trio of Neturei Karta representatives sportingPalestinian flag badges. Thanks to UN regulations,they at least had to leave their trademark sandwichboards at home.Following extensive debates (and some seriousconfusion) it was determined that approximately 150NGOs would be making two-minute submissions atthe Plenary stage. Thanks to our interaction with theSA delegation, we were able to assist the IJC withinformation enabling it to secure slots and fourJewish NGOs ultimately made submissions. Oneslot was used on behalf of the IJC, and this submissionwas presented by the co-Chair of the Jewish HumanRights Coalition (UK), Rosalind Preston.Was the DRC like Durban 1?When drafting its International Jewish Coalitionstatement, the IJC included the comment, “The WorldConference Against Racism in 2001 is rememberedfor the antisemitism on the streets of Durban. TheDurban Review in Geneva will be remembered forthe antisemitism within the Assembly hall of the UN,as clearly spelt out by Iran’s President.” It must beremembered, however, that Ahmadinejad’s speechwas followed by unequivocal condemnation by manycountries, by the Secretary General of the UN and theHRC High Commissioner.None of the violent and overt antisemitism asseen in Durban in 2001 was evident in Geneva. Theevent was monitored closely by the authorities, whoshowed a zero tolerance for any unruly behavior orviolation of the rules. As for the anti-Israel or pro-32
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