I've been thinking again about the cancellation by the Herbert Park Hotel of the hotel booking for the antisemitism conference. Following various comments made, I've been looking further into SECCA, the event organisers, I've changed my mind and have deleted my post last week. SECCA is not just an affiliate of the World Jewish Council (WJC) but it is a direct initiative convened by the WJC - it is a WJC event. The WJC has defended Israel's completely disproportionate response (incl. the killing of 21,000 children) to Oct 7th in the following ways: - It conducts media advocacy to defend the strategic and legal rationale behind IDF operations. - It defends the legality of the IDF's conduct under international humanitarian law. - It amplifies official IDF findings and intelligence to counter allegations of misconduct. - It heavily advocates against the unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood. - It lobbies against UN resolutions, commissions of inquiry and mandates that target Israel. - It leads global campaigns to combat the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. - Its leaders meet with heads of state to build support for Israeli foreign policy objectives. - It publicly honours its Israeli members and fellows who serve in the IDF reserves. - It promotes the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which draws controversy for including criticisms of Israel in its examples. In order to counter allegations of war crimes the WJC quotes intelligence, legal perspectives & operational narratives put forward by the IDF and communicates these to global leaders & the public. The WJC stands four-square behind Israel and its military actions, despite numerous major war crimes carried out by Israel. It has lobbied that countries don't comply with the ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. WJC is like a diplomatic shield for Israel regarding the West Bank because it consistently opposes international efforts to force an end to the occupation. Its position goes beyond general solidarity with Israel This runs down through to SECCA where Katharina von Schnurbein, who was the European Commission Coordinator on Combating Antisemitism and SECCA co-chair. On 29 May 2025, she made the ludicrous statement that bake sales raising money for the Palestinian Red Crescent made Jews in the EU feel uncomfortable. She said that, while the EU was going to review of its preferential trade agreement with Israel, it should rest on verified evidence rather than "rumours about Jews". Clearly this review was in reaction to Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza and not "rumours about Jews". She promoted Israel's line in relation to the supply of food to Gaza at that time. Just a couple of months later a MUAC survey suggested that 10's of thousands of children had severe malnutrition. So taking all that into account, is it possible for an individual or organisation to take a stand against WJC/SECCA on the basis that it defends Israel's disproportionate attack on Palestinians and its ongoing occupation of the West Bank, without it be rooted in antisemitism? Having looked into the background of the organisation involved, I think so. It's a pity because antisemitism does need to be confronted, but as long as organisations position themselves firmly in support of the military actions of Israel, then protests are legitimate.