Turning Durban II?

According to the Obama administration, it is getting involved in the planning of the Durban II conference with the intent of changing it.

“The intent of our participation is to work to try to change the direction in which the Review Conference is heading. We hope to work with other countries that want the Conference to responsibly and productively address racism around the world,” the statement said.

In his interview with Al-Arabiya, President Obama said:

We’re going to follow through on our commitment for me to address the Muslim world from a Muslim capital. We are going to follow through on many of my commitments to do a more effective job of reaching out, listening, as well as speaking to the Muslim world.

So will this “effective job of reaching out” include telling the Muslim world that the United States will challenge it when its beliefs and actions challenge those of America and its allies? Or does the outreach simply mean that the Obama administration will be silent when the Muslim world opposes the United States?

It’s impossible to get an early read on the administration’s full intent. The White House held an off the record conference call with a number of Jewish organizations yesterday to explain its position. (The article only mentions two organizations that participated. Maybe more are named elsewhere.)

Gerald Steinberg doesn’t view even this preliminary contact as risk free.

If the Americans succeed in reversing this agenda in the brief time that remains, it would mark a major success and set the stage for restoring US influence and values. Proponents of engagement argue that the Obama Administration can help steer this UN conference so that it actually focuses on discrimination against minorities around the world, and is not another platform for anti-Israel obsession.

Alternatively, if this strategy fails, and the text remains poisonous, an American-led walkout with the 27 members of the European Union and some others would delegitimize the Durban process.

HOWEVER, IF Washington hesitates and compromises, allowing the OIC and like-minded NGOs to control the agenda, the participation of the world’s democracies will do immense damage. It will amplify the impact of the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism, including the NGO Forum which used terms like “apartheid” and “racism” to isolate Israel.

My guess is that the administration’s approach is more likely to be governed by “outreach” than by change. While the administration may be able to garner some superficial changes, the overall tone of any and all resolutions issued from Durban II will be pretty similar to the results of the original. I hope I’m wrong, but the American walkout from the original Durban was pretty controversial and I don’t see that President Obama or his advisers are much interested in confrontation at a time when they say they are seeking understanding.

With the writing on the Synagogue wall (via memeorandum) the costs of not fighting antisemitism cloaked as anti-Zionism are quite high.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.