Pro-Israel leaders, senior officials hold counter-conference to protest upcoming Durban IV

(JNS) — A group of pro-Israel academics, activists, government officials and members of the media held a virtual conference strongly criticizing the Durban conferences against racism, which from its first and most notable conference in Durban, South Africa, in 2001 singled out and demonized the Jewish state.

The Sept. 19 conference focused on various parts of the legacy left by not only the first Durban conference, where Israel was labeled an “apartheid state,” and, according to many of the speakers, Zionism was linked to racism in the lexicon of left-wing groups, but also follow-up conference...