The name of the event speaks for itself — or so one might think. Because actually, the 2009 United Nations World Conference Against Racism was anything but.

Also known as the Durban Review Conference or Durban II, the event hoped to review, reiterate and re-establish the comments and justifications made at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa — an event whose title was, like Durban II, a façade hiding its true agenda.

Talk about irony: The country most condemned by Durban II participants is not a theocratic dictatorship. This country’s laws — pertaining to free speech, women’s rights and minorities — don’t reveal an unprogressive police state. Rather, the country with the most condemnations is a liberal democracy whose citizens — regardless of race, color or creed — enjoy a level of freedom unmatched by any of its neighboring countries: Israel.

In both 2001 and 2009, members of the international community took to the world stage and created an ambiance of prejudice rooted in the purest forms of racism possible. At Durban I, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” an anti-Semitic Czarist forgery, was on sale. At Durban II, groups associated with the conference scattered propaganda fliers asking “What if Hitler had won?” as a form of attack, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again questioned details of the Holocaust — a cataclysmic event that targeted Jews for their race and religion, not their political adherence — by calling it an “ambiguous and dubious question.”

And let’s not forgot Ahmadinejad is consistently associated with Hamas, whose leaders indeed praised his speech at Durban and whose charter calls on eradicating not only Zionists but, more precisely, Jews (articles 7, 17, 20, 22 and 28). It’s clear the connotations of racism against Israel and the Jews were deeply implanted at Durban. And thus, the context of these events transformed from a baseless anti-Zionist, political tone into an even more baseless anti-Semitic, racist tone. It only goes to show that at its true core, anti-Zionism is often just a front for anti-Semitism, which is a front for racism.

Beyond this, there still seems to be an imbalance present. Israel called for peace with its neighbors in its declaration of independence, offers freedoms to its citizens unparalleled by any other Middle Eastern country, took in Darfurian refugees when others wouldn’t, made land concessions in hopes of attaining peace and has been on the defensive in a military and public relations war since 1948. How can this country be condemned as the aggressor?

It’s an unfortunate reality that’s only possible because countries of the Arab League and their partnering voting blocs — who, at times, dominate platforms such as Durban — continually gang up on Israel. These platforms spread words of abhorrence and hatred that work to establish, influence and create a certain hateful perception among the international community toward this one country and, consequently, Jews.

On Sept. 22, Durban III is set to take place in New York. And as understood, an event that was originally formed to dispel the world of racism has, on the contrary, been an event embodied by racism in its entirety. To all those who believe in exposing a lie for what it really is: Stand up and voice your protest against Durban III, because, to quote the poet Adrienne Rich, “lying is done with words and also with silence.”

Ariel Dosetareh is a freshman Jewish studies major. He can be reached at dosetareh@umdbk.com.