Simon Wiesenthal Center Pressemeddelse:
January 6, 2005
SWC TO UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER: “RAPPORTEUR ON RACISM MUST NOT ENDORSE ANTI-ZIONISM
In a letter to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Director for International Liaison, Dr. Shimon Samuels, expressed grave concern that “the Rapporteur on Racism, Mr. Doudou Diène, presided over an Experts’ Seminar on Defamation of Religions and the Global Struggle Against Discrimination, Antisemitism, Christianophobia and Islamophobia in Barcelona on 11-14 November, which degenerated into a defense of anti-Zionism as a legitimate movement unrelated to antisemitism.”
The letter added, “According to the organizers, the UNESCO Center of Catalunya, this event – incorrectly presented as under the auspices of UNESCO itself – aimed to provide the guiding principles for the Rapporteur’s report to the March-April 2005 session of the Commission.”
Samuels explained, “Anti-Zionism argues for the denial of sovereignty only to the Jewish people, which is, ipso facto, an act of racism. It is also a violation of the UN Charter in its singling out of one member-state for extinction,” suggesting “Mr. Doudou Diène should thus include ‘anti-Zionism’ among the forms of racism listed in his report.”
The Center called on the High Commissioner “to urge your Rapporteur to disassociate himself from the Barcelona statements which endorse anti-Zionism and to exclude them from his forthcoming report.”
Samuels noted that “on 30 August 2004, the 55-state Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), in Berlin, acknowledged anti-Zionism as a key element in contemporary antisemitism by rejecting its use as a pretext for Jew-hatred anywhere.”
The letter concluded: “While the Barcelona seminar initiated an attempt to undo the OSCE recognition of the perniciousness of anti-Zionism, it would be unconscionable for the Human Rights Commission to provide a backdoor for the reincarnation of the infamous 1975 UN Resolution equating Zionism with Racism. This would be a warrant for worldwide antisemitism.”
IMHO Samuels got somthing wrong. If Zionism stands for sovereignty only to the Jewish people, than Zionism violates article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“freedom of religion”) resp. article 2 which states, that “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”