Ad calls on U.S. to skip U.N. anti-racism conference

WASHINGTON -- Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, law professor Alan Dershowitz and former CIA director James Woolsey are among 25 religious, academic and legal figures calling on the U.S. to skip next year's United Nations anti-racism conference in a full-page ad set to appear today in four newspapers.

In the ad, a copy of which was obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, the signers label the conference as anti-Semitic and urge Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to announce that the U.S. won't participate.

The ad is scheduled to run in the New York Sun and The Washington Times, as well as the political newspaper Politico and Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.

Next year's conference is known as Durban II, a reference to the South African city that hosted the World Conference Against Racism in 2001. At that meeting, criticism of Israel prompted the U.S. and Israel to walk out.

A few months later, Israel's then-deputy foreign minister, Michael Melchior, said the conference "hosted the most racist speeches and proposals to be heard in an international forum since World War II." He added that "the conference became the mouthpiece for a new and venal form of anti-Semitism."

The ad says that next year's conference "seeks not to combat racism, but to promote and fuel hatred toward Israel and America. ... There is an immediate way to act against growing anti-Semitism around the world -- say no to Durban II. Declare that the United States will not participate in a dialogue that promotes prejudice."

Canada already has announced that it is boycotting the conference.

"We'll attend any conference that is opposed to racism and intolerance, not those that actually promote racism and intolerance," said Canada's secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity, Jason Kenney.

U.N. spokesman Brenden Varma said that "racism is too important an issue for member states not to work out their differences." He added that the conference will provide an opportunity to help stamp out racism.

The Bush administration already has taken a symbolic stance against the conference. In December, the United States cast the only "no" vote when the General Assembly passed a two-year U.N. budget, because of objections to funding for the conference that it considers anti-Israel.

The State Department has said a decision on attending won't be made until closer to the time of the conference.

At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee in February, Sen. Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican and U.N. critic, asked Rice whether the U.S. would say it would not participate.

"We have not made that statement, but let me assure you, senator, we have no intention of participating in something like Durban I," Rice responded.

On Wednesday, State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez said that although no decision has been made, "Based on past experience, we think it's very unlikely that the U.S. will be willing to participate."

Last month, the Senate passed a Coleman amendment to block any U.S. funds to be used for funding the conference.

Anne Bayefsky, who runs a U.N. watchdog Web site EYEontheUN.org, helped organize the ad effort and was one of its signatories. Bayefsky said she initially had expected the U.S. to skip the conference, but isn't so sure anymore.

"Secretary Rice was asked point-blank by Senator Coleman for an answer, and she didn't give it," she said.

Bayefsky said the ad was paid for by Lawrence Kadish, a board member at the Hudson Institute, a think tank. The Hudson Institute Web site identifies him as a commercial, retail and industrial real estate investor, and philanthropist. Bayefsky said she didn't know how much the ad buy cost.

Other signatories on the ad include former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, former Education Secretary William Bennett, political commentator Dick Morris and First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams.