CRIF prepares for the Durban follow-up conference to be held in Geneva

CRIF has received the director of UN Watch, Hillel Neuer.

In the presence of the President of CRIF Richard Prasquier, its General Director Haim Musicant, and the American Jewish Committee’s representative in France Valerie Hoffenberg, Hillel Neuer insisted on CRIF’s critical role in the period from now till April 2009, because France is currently presiding the European Union. The director of UN Watch recalled with satisfaction the large CRIF delegation at the international meeting held in Geneva last May under the organisation’s auspices.

He also commended French President Nicolas Sarkozy for his firmness. At this year’s CRIF dinner, on 13^th February, the President of the Republic had said: “Mr President [Prasquier], you have spoken of the trauma caused by the Durban conference in 2001, and the unacceptable excesses that turned that conference into an open lobby against the State of Israel. A follow-up conference is planned for 2009. I will not accept a repetition of the drifts and excesses that took place in 2001. France will be presiding the European Union in the final months prior to the conference. It will withdraw from the process if our demands are not taken into account.”

In Europe, France, the United Kingdom (in the person of minister Jim Murphy) and the Netherlands, have repeatedly said that if what happened at Durban 1 is repeated, the answer will be “no”. This message of firmness has apparently been heard by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and his team, as well as by all the Arab and African countries.