New York, NY, July 15, 2005 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called for the abolition of an anti-Israel United Nations committee whose "extreme, unmitigated hate against Israel" has resulted in the adoption of a new "action plan" for a global campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

Citing its long history of anti-Israel animus, the League called on U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan for his support for the abolition of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which sponsored the International Conference of Civil Society in Support of Middle East Peace, held July 12-13 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

"Unfortunately, our concerns about the entrenched anti-Israel nature of this conference were well founded," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  "While the conference allegedly promoted Middle East Peace, in reality it was a forum for the propagation of extreme, unmitigated hate against Israel. What is unacceptable is the United Nations imprimatur on these proceedings."

In a letter to Mr. Annan, ADL noted that, "…the involvement of the United Nations in this conference contradicts the statements you have made committing to reform within the U.N. structure that would provide fairness to Israel.

"For thirty years, since its establishment following General Assembly resolution 3376, the United Nations budget has paid to house and operate this committee.  U.N. departments, including the information service, distribute its programs and communiqués," the letter noted.

According to a conference statement released by the United Nations Information Service, the deliberations in Paris ended in the adoption of an Action Plan calling for a year of "a global campaign of boycotts divestment and sanctions to pressure Israel to end the occupation."  The conferees noted the anniversary of the International Court of Justice decision on Israel's security fence, calling it "Israel's annexationist apartheid wall."  Israel's plan to disengage from the Gaza Strip was characterized as "a ploy to legitimize Israel's annexation of wide swathes of territory in the West Bank."

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.