Sweden, Latvia, Denmark bring final Durban IV boycotter count to 37

• Published date: 23 September 2021
• Author: LAHAV HARKOV
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Sweden, Latvia and Denmark announced their boycott on Thursday, the day after the event took place.

The other countries boycotting Durban IV were: Albania, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Montenegro, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, the UK, the US and Uruguay.

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Swedish Ambassador to Israel Erik Ullenhag said his country "didn't participate in the high-level meeting marking the 20th anniversary of the Durban Declaration. We stand firm in the fight against racism and antisemitism in all its forms."

The decision came days after Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid spoke with his Swedish counterpart Ann Linde, the highest-level contacts between the countries in seven years, since Sweden recognized a Palestinian state.

Lapid said on Thursday that the fact that more countries boycotted the Durban Review Conference than ever before comes from "intensive diplomatic work for the good of the State of Israel."

"I thank the countries that dropped out," Lapid tweeted. "It is touching and inspires pride that we are not alone in the fight against antisemitism.

Wednesday's event, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, marked 20 years since the World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa. The 2001 event was rife with antisemitism, with accredited groups at its NGO forum distributing copies of the antisemitic canard The...