Day One of the Durban Review Conference

What a day! I have experienced the highs and the lows of international diplomacy and intimate diplomacy.

Within a span of less than four hours, I was within the UN’s Geneva main assembly hall and was in the midst of not only greats like Alan Deshowitz and Jon Voight but also hate mongers like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (my personal Hitler). Better yet, I met Jon Voight, a gentile supporter of Israel. Best yet, I met Elie Wiesel, possibly the most important Jew alive today (my personal Elijah). His gentleness and sincerity belies his life experience and the day’s experience.

By now, you’ve seen the video footage, heard the little man’s speech, and seen the clown and the parade. The hour before the speech was an electric and hectic time in the halls of the UN in Geneva. The lines to get through the many security posts and metal detectors were very long and even wider. I tried three times to get into the gallery to be in the same room as Ahmadinejad, but with only half the diplomatic credentials needed, I could not. Others in my delegation did, however.

I went to an overflow room, along with Deshowitz, only to have the UN not feed us the English translation of the speech given in Farsi. A near riot broke out with Deshowitz telling the crowd that our human rights were being violated with the UN not providing translation. The ruckus melted into several heated arguments between Jews in the room and other parties, including but separately, African Americans, black Africans, and Israeli Arabs. I was proud of whose of my delegation in the room; they successfully, logically, and diplomatically debated those who they opposed.

I returned to the outer halls to be in a mob waiting for Ahmadinejad, moving with Ahmadinejad, and re-waiting for Ahadinejad. There, I meet Voight and Wiesel. I also met some Arabs who when convenient wrote and yelled in English, “Israel is Racist…Genocide in Gaza,” but could not read the sentence of the Hamas Charter that calls for the death of every single Jew on earth. A fellow delegate handed it to him and pointed to it.


Allow me to continue tomorrow. Thank you for your attention.