December 19, 2008
No Need To Hear Tyrants Pontificate
In deciding whether or not to attend the Durban II conference, the new president should take a cue from the Bush administration and spare taxpayers the expense of sending representatives to hear the usual claptrap about racism and discrimination from some of the worst human rights offenders on the face of the planet (“After Israel Pulls Out, Obama Faces Tough Decision on Durban II Racism Conference,” December 5).
Are our representatives to hear lectures on the sanctity of life and the dignity of man by those sent from Sudan, Libya, Syria, Iran, Myanmar and similar hellholes? The conspicuous absence of the United States will send a message to the United Nations loudly and clearly that we do not countenance the galling hypocrisy of despots and dictators who wouldn’t know a human right if it bit them on the back side.
Bob Klein
Gainesville, Va.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Letters What Peter Beinart misunderstands about Jewish values
-
Letters After Sinwar’s death, is war really over?
-
Letters Do anti-Zionist Yiddishists see the Hamas massacre of Jews as ‘resistance’?
-
Letters Stating that Palestinians don’t deserve peace due to Oct. 7 doesn’t solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.