Thirty-three countries openly boycotted today the Durban IV conference in New York. Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid tweeted this morning, before the opening of the conference, "Following focused and successful diplomatic efforts by the Foreign Ministry, 30 countries are boycotting the anti-Semitic Durban conference that will open today in New York." The post was accompanied by a montage of the flags of the 30 countries boycotting, with the slogan "30 countries against the anti-Semitic Durban conference."

Lapid was referring to the Durban IV conference being held today in New York on the margins of the United Nation’s annual General Assembly. The conference marked the 20th anniversary of the Durban Declaration, which was adopted at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism.

As mentioned by Lapid, several countries boycotted the Sept. 22 Durban IV event over concerns about anti-Semitism and the platform being exploited to attack Israel. The 33 states boycotting included Israel, the United States, France, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Moldova, Greece, New Zealand, Poland, Romania and others. This was over double the number of countries that have done so in the past for Durban conferences. For instance, in 2011, 15 countries skipped the Durban III conference.

Germany had confirmed already last July that it would not attend this year’s Durban conference. For France, it was the third time to boycott a Durban Declaration follow-up event. Prior to the event, the office of French President Emmanuel Macron issued a statement saying, "Concerned by a history of anti-Semitic remarks made at the UN conference on racism, known as the Durban conference, the President of the Republic has decided that France will not participate in the follow-up conference to be held this year."