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Editor's Note: U.S. President Barack Obama bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, in a White House ceremony on Wednesday in which 15 other persons were also honored. The award to Robinson was controversial, especially to Jewish groups that blame her for failing to prevent a conference in Durban, South Africa, from turning into an international anti-Semitic forum.
Following are some developments:
White House Q& A:
WASHINGTON,D.C. (Press Release)-- Following is an excerpt from the press briefing conducted Wednesday, August 12, by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs:
Q Any second thoughts on Mary Robinson, given the opposition from Jewish groups?
MR. GIBBS: No. I think the President is recognizing her for her leadership on women's rights and equal rights. And as I've said before, he doesn't agree with each of her statements but she's certainly somebody who should be honored.
Wiesenthal Center's
Rabbi Abraham Cooper criticizes the award
LOS ANGELES (Press Release)--Following is a statement issued by Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, prior to the White House ceremony in which Mary Robinson received a Presidential Medal of Freedom:
Today, as President Obama bestows the Medal of Freedom on Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, I will be thinking of my father, the late Isaac Cooper. He, unlike his son, was a saintly man who always strove to find the good in each person. As a youngster, I came to understand, however, that when my father couldn't find something good to say, he would murmur: "He means well."
Well, Mary Robinson is no anti-Semite. And as president of Ireland she achieved many important things. But her signature moment in history came when, as chairwoman of the 2001 United Nations World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, she allowed the conference to be hijacked by extremist groups. The meeting devolved into an ugly anti-American and anti-Semitic debacle and gravely wounded the cause of human rights.
Durban was no big tent of tolerance. Rather, it was a launching pad for demonizing the United States, Israel and any Jews with the audacity to openly identify themselves as Zionists.
A few ugly incidents still cling to my psyche:
—Each nongovernmental organization, or NGO, was invited to set up a booth. In a presentation that would have brought tears of joy to the eyes of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, a Cairo-based lawyers group proudly displayed scores of political cartoons depicting Israelis as Nazis or subhumans.
—As a CNN reporter posed a question at our caucus' news conference, 40 Muslim women from Iran burst in and physically tried to stop our event.
—On Friday, Durban's chief of police gently but firmly urged us not to attempt to walk the 21/2 blocks from the conference to the Jewish Community Center. "I cannot guarantee your safety," he told me. Outside, there were 17,000 anti-Zionist protesters, some of whom held up the banner: "Hitler Was Right!"
—The ill-fated "final NGO document" that Robinson was supposed to hand to then-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan,
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replete with anti-Israel invective, did have one reference condemning firebombing attacks against synagogues in France.
But the reference was deleted when a delegate from the World Council of Churches rose at the closing plenary to ask, "What does an attack on a synagogue have to do with racism?"
We Jews left the big tent that night to the whistles and catcalls of some and the utter silence of too many of the human rights elites. Hate, not hope, had carried the day.
Sadly, the seeds of this debacle were planted by Robinson herself, when she approved a key conference preparatory meeting for Tehran. She assured the Jewish leaders and others attending the conference that we would be welcomed to participate. But visas for the Baha'i or members of the Wiesenthal Center did not arrive in time. While she protested the regime's double cross, she welcomed the "consensus" of a productive meeting between civilizations at the Tehran meeting. She urged delegates to continue their fight against racism. As for the abuse against Israel, all Robinson would say was that "the situation in the Palestinian-occupied territories was brought up at the meeting and it is reflected in the final declaration."
The internationally sanctioned Israel/apartheid ambush was ready to roll.
Robinson just doesn't get it. Global human rights dialogue has been debased on her watch. The late Holocaust survivor and human rights crusader Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) told me as much just before he announced that he and U.S. diplomats, who shlepped to Durban to try to forge a compromise, were leaving in protest.
Just days after we left Durban, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were launched. The Homeland Security Department is struggling to contain international terrorism. Global human rights have yet to recover from Robinson's Durban debacle. What would my dad say if he could see Obama bestow our nation's highest honor on Robinson? "I guess she meant well."
President Obama's salute to Mary Robinson at the medal ceremony
PRESIDENT OBAMA: The only girl in a family of four brothers, Mary Robinson learned early on what it takes to make sure all voices are heard. As a crusader for women and those without a voice in Ireland, Mary Robinson was the first woman elected President of Ireland, before being appointed U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. When she traveled abroad as President, she would place a light in her window that would draw people of Irish descent to pass by below. Today, as an advocate for the hungry and the hunted, the forgotten and the ignored, Mary Robinson has not only shone a light on human suffering, but illuminated a better future for our world.
Official medal citation for Robinson
{Following the President's introductory remarks, a military aide read the official citation accompanying the medal}
CITATION:
Mary Robinson. (Applause.)
For Mary Robinson, the fight to end discrimination and suffering is an urgent moral imperative. She has been a trail-blazing crusader for women's rights in Ireland and a forceful advocate for equality and human rights around the world. Whether courageously visiting conflict-stricken regions, or working to inject concern for human rights into business and economic development, Mary Robinson continues this important work today, urging citizens and nations to make common cause for justice.
(The medal is presented.) (Applause.)
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