U.N. to Israel - You're racist!

[U-said-it]

U.S. officials say the United States will not participate in a United Nations conference on racism this year unless a draft version of the meeting's final report is drastically changed.

The U.S. State Department issued a statement Friday about the World Conference Against Racism, saying U.S. representatives will be unable to attend the conference, due to open in about two months (April 20-25) in Geneva.

The draft of a final document for the conference has already been circulated among U.N. member nations. The State Department said the draft in its current form is not salvageable. American envoys say it would limit freedoms of religion and speech and would unfairly label Israel's policies as racist.

Israel and the United States walked out of the Durban conference in protest against delegates' attempts to brand Israel as an apartheid state guilty of racism.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-02-28-voa21.cfm

as for the text in the Durban 2001 statement regarding the Palestinian/Israel issue there are two passages:

63. We are concerned about the plight of the Palestinian people under foreign occupation. We recognize the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to the establishment of an independent State and we recognize the right to security for all States in the region, including Israel, and call upon all States to support the peace process and bring it to an early conclusion;

151. As for the situation in the Middle East, calls for the end of violence and the swift resumption of negotiations, respect for international human rights and humanitarian law, respect for the principle of self-determination and the end of all suffering, thus allowing Israel and the Palestinians to resume the peace process, and to develop and prosper in security and freedom;

http://www.un.org/WCAR/durban.pdf

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[Lartrak]

I DO seem to recall a number of specific rules and laws in Israel that benefit Jews. IF we're going to consider Jewish people to be a race (which it isn't under Israeli law, or at least it is not a group you have to be born into under the law) that would certainly make the state of Israel a racist one.

[az_bont]

I DO seem to recall a number of specific rules and laws in Israel that benefit Jews. IF we're going to consider Jewish people to be a race (which it isn't under Israeli law, or at least it is not a group you have to be born into under the law) that would certainly make the state of Israel a racist one.

Israel's Law of Return specifically provides that those who are born Jews (those with a Jewish mother or grandmother, according to their definition) or those with Jewish ancestry (a Jewish father or grandfather) enjoy an automatic right of citizenship. The only other category of persons who can take advantage of the law are those who have converted to one of the preferred denominations of Judaism, which adds discrimination on grounds of religious belief to the mix.

[Lartrak]

I DO seem to recall a number of specific rules and laws in Israel that benefit Jews. IF we're going to consider Jewish people to be a race (which it isn't under Israeli law, or at least it is not a group you have to be born into under the law) that would certainly make the state of Israel a racist one.

Israel's Law of Return specifically provides that those who are born Jews (those with a Jewish mother or grandmother, according to their definition) or those with Jewish ancestry (a Jewish father or grandfather) enjoy an automatic right of citizenship. The only other category of persons who can take advantage of the law are those who have converted to one of the preferred denominations of Judaism, which adds discrimination on grounds of religious belief to the mix.

Think that might have been what I was thinking of. It certainly is ethnic discrimination, at the least.

On March 31, 2005, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled 7-4 that all conversions performed outside of Israel would be recognized by the authorities under the Law of Return

So apparently if your grandfather converted (since being a grandson of a Jew is enough) you're good. But what if your grandfather converted after you were born?