Rather than front up and take part in the debate at the UN-sponsored World Conference on Racism, the US, Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Israel are not going to turn up. Canada's conservative government was first to bail out early last year.
The apparent reason is conflict around Israel's policies in Palestine. The response from much of the West is the usual one: turn a deaf ear. To be fair, the Arab states are just as deaf in response to criticism of their behaviour and policies.
Israel is easily the most contentious issue on the global agenda for the past 60 years. Failure to deal with this issue has lead to many wars and atrocities, directly and indirectly, including 9/11.
Why on Earth would we (NZ or anyone) allow a single issue to break up a major international conference? Yet this appears to be exactly what is happening. The wrongs of racism are exactly what the conference is about.
Instead, the listed countries are adopting a "talk to the hand" stance, plugged their ears and boycotted the conference in an attempt to block the airing of criticism about Israeli behaviour in Palestine. Are we seeing criticism of Israel - again - being portrayed as "anti-semitism"? It would appear to be the case.
Why not turn up and make the opposing case?
I note the Herald article, sourced from AP, includes the (2005) claim that Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called for "Israel to be wiped off the map" but neglects to mention that Israel has been threatening to unilaterally nuke Iran since at least 2002.
Reporting the Iranian president's comments out of context appears to be required journalistic practice in the English-speaking world, at least.
Daily review 15/07/2025
1 hour ago
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