Do Not Attend Racist Conference In Durban

RABBI BEN ISAACSON says the World Conference Against Racism due to take place in Durban later this month will be a gathering of “hypocrites” intent only on condemning Israel in the name of “freedom of speech” while ignoring the myriad atrocities committed around the world.

 

Board of Deputies, do not attend the Racist Conference in Durban, for that is indeed the name of the dog.

 

I speak, for I can no longer remain silent. I protested against apartheid with all my heart, soul and might long fore the appearance of Desmond Tutu, and paid the price of isolation, police harassment, death threats and exile – exile to country I grew to love – Zimbabwe, may it rest in peace.

 

During apartheid the Board of Deputies showed no dignity, let alone courage, and the rabbis, with a handful of exceptions, were criminally silent. Since then the Board has advanced – whereas in the past it cuddled up only to white Nationalists, now it cuddles up regardless of colour.

 

Do I regret the sacrifice I made at the tender age of 24? G-d forbid! But there is a value called moral consistency, and how strange it is that many of those whites who courageously fought the evil of the past, are now strangely silent in the face of the evils engulfing our country and the continent we live in.

 

Who are the organisers of the Durban Racist Conference and those who support its right to discuss any subject that they choose – of course under the guise of freedom of speech? As they arrive in their luxury BMWs plundered from their country’s resources or acquired with monies from foreign aid programmes, it will be noticed that hardly any of them permit freedom of speech in their own feudal estates.

 

Even the new editors of South Africa’s press are reluctant to permit too much freedom of expression if the subject matter is somewhat touchy. Oh how I pray for the Rand Daily Mail and give thanks for the Mail and Guardian!

 

But okay, let the feudal lords of the “developing” world express their freedom of speech, even with regard to the criminal decision to spend what will ultimately amount to R80 billion on submarines, corvettes and the other toys they so love to play with, albeit at the cost of solving the life-threatening viruses (not syndromes) of Aids, genocidal crime rates, the murder of farmers, housing and unemployment.

 

They want to discuss slavery? Absolutely, they are entitled to do so. But will they discuss the origins of slavery and the role played by the Arab slave traders?

 

Will they discuss the current slave trade horrendously perpetrated by the Muslim north of Sudan against the Christian south, or does freedom of speech stop at Arab atrocities?

 

They want to discuss Zionism and racism. Of course, with their wide knowledge of Zionism, its history, spiritual and material, they are eminently qualified to do so. In this they are supported by the European Union, whose blood-soaked soil will for all eternity cry out for revenge upon the collaborators with Nazism – Belgium, France, Germany and the others.

 

Belgium wants to bring Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to justice for crimes against humanity? How terminally ill is this country whose Nazi collaborators were never questioned?

 

The Racist Durban Conference is entitled to freedom of speech. But what makes the Board of Deputies believe that intelligent human beings are obliged to listen to anti-Semitic garbage, for that is their main concern – Israel’s violation of human rights, Israel’s refusal to accept the necessity for its citizens to be blown to bits, and Israel’s refusal to put down its guns and mobilise an army of stone throwers to throw stones back at the persecuted Arabs, thereby not committing the crime of using excessive force?

 

While on the subject of excessive force: Will their freedom of speech and love for the Arab world permit them to discuss the Syrian massacres of thousands of its own citizens while suppressing a Muslim rebellion launched from the town of Hama in February 1982; or King Hussein’s annihilation of the PLO in 1970; or Hosni Mubarak’s ongoing massacre of Islamic fundamentalists of the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt?

 

Best of all, will the conference’s devotion to freedom of speech raise the murder of thousands of Islamic fundamentalist in Algeria by that country’s military, even though the former won a democratically contested election? We could of course go on with the Taliban’s enslavement of women, etc, etc. For the list of Islamic horrors is endless. Do not forget South Africa’s own favourite son, Gadaffi.

 

But no, the Racist Conference in Durban will only discuss Israel and the equation of Zionism with racism. They have nothing else to do, especially in their own back yards. And then, to cover up their misdemeanours, they will haul out the latest piece of gobbledegook – the African Renaissance, which is to be led by the very leaders who have plundered, wasted and stolen the resources meant for their subjects. Somalia, Liberia, Nigeria, Congo, Sierra Leone, Angola, Rwanda, Sudan and the jewel of Africa – Zimbabwe of blessed memory.

 

These political thugs are going to bring about the African Renaissance? Ha ha ha – let them all unite in Durban to celebrate the “churban”!

 

So why do the nations roar about Israel? Do they need the historical scapegoat to cover up their own bankruptcy? Possibly, but the truth for once goes deeper. The European nations who collaborated with
the Nazis roar together with Africa and Arabia because the Jew has done the unthinkable, he has denied the right of the world to exterminate him.

 

The Jew committed the unpardonable sin of deciding to survive Christian Europe’s genocide and Islam’s persecution and humiliation.

 

Approximately 500 000 Jews were driven out of their homes in Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Morocco in 1948 as a reprisal for the declaration of the State of Israel. Did the refugees and survivors of Christian and Islamic persecution sit on their behinds, wallowing in their own misery, allowing themselves to be used as pawns by unscrupulous politicians? No, they got off their backsides and built from a howling wilderness a flourishing oasis – institutions of education, science and technology among the best in the world.

 

What is more, they defended what they built successfully – too successfully for the world, which has no respect for democracy but shows understanding for terror. That is the name of the dog hiding behind the mask of a conference on racism and slavery.

 

Fellow Jews, do not go to Durban. Do not even attempt to convince the prejudiced ignoramuses and perfidious hypocrites of the error of their ways, for they have eyes but see not, ears but hear not. By going to Durban you will become part and parcel of the humiliation not only of the State of Israel and the Jewish people – you will sell your souls and cause a public desecration of the name of G-d.

 

“For the sake of Zion I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest until her triumph go forth as brightness and her salvation as a torch that burns.” (Isaiah Ch 62).

 

 

© 2001 Rabbi Ben Isaacson

    Special to The Jewish Report

    August 17

    Johannesburg

    The author has granted Ilana Mercer (nee Isaacson) the permission to use this work