Israel and the United States reiterated that they cannot participate in the United Nations-sponsored Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination and the World Conference on Racism to be held in Geneva next year because both events still include the General Assembly’s 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism. The two countries announced their positions as the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) plenary reaffirmed its support of the Decade and the conference.
Israeli Ambassador Chaim Herzog, after stressing Israel’s abhorrence of racism, said it could not participate in the two events because they were “contaminated by extraneous issues such as the infamous resolution on Zionism which still exists and thus an important opportunity to address the critical issue of racism, on which there can be no doubt about Israel’s position, will be lost.” The U.S. representative expressed similar views.
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