Earlier this year thousands of WBII activists were part of an email campaign to persuade the UK to not attend the UN’s Durban IV summit, as this series of events had been marred by antisemitism and extreme anti-Israel rhetoric.
Not only did this contribute to the UK being one of 34 countries to withdraw from the event, on Monday 11 October the UK called for a roll-call vote on a UN Human Right Council pro-Durban motion and prevented the text passing by consensus. 10 countries opposed the resolution: Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Ukraine and the UK.
“Racism should be tackled in all its forms, and regrettably, for far too long, the UN has downplayed the scourge of antisemitism. This must end.” British diplomat Simon Manley told the UNHRC. He added “The UK is clear that we will not attend future iterations of the Durban Conference while concerns over antisemitism remain.”