Obama Finally Announces US Will Boycott Durban II Conference

The US has decided to boycott the "Durban II" UN Conference on Racism. Obama said that it was "with regret" that America would not be attending. Obama further said, "Hopefully, some concrete steps come out of the conference that we can partner with other countries on to actually reduce discrimination around the globe, but this wasn't an opportunity to do it." He also criticized the conference's draft declaration as diplaying "antagonism toward Israel in ways that were often times completely hypocritical and counterproductive." It has long been expected that the weeklong UN meeting in Geneva would repeat the anti-Israel rhetoric of the first UN racism conference in Durban, South Africa, in 2001.

Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman echoed Obama's remarks, calling it "a hypocrisy summit." He said "the fact that a racist like [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad is the main speaker proves the true aim and nature of the conference."
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