CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Israel will not attend the Durban II conference in 2009.

Speaking at the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism, Livni said without concrete information that the second Durban conference won't be a repeat of the first, Israel will not attend.

In 2001, Israel and the US walked out of the first Durban World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

"Participation in this conference legitimizes hate, extremism and anti-Semitism," Livni said. "Israel will not support this sort of behavior," she said.

"Success in the battle against anti-Semitism will have far-reaching consequences for the Jewish future of the State of Israel and for all of the international community," she said. "We expect nations who see eye-to-eye with us on this matter to do as we have," she said.

Canada also announced they will not attend Durban II.

"Canada is interested in combating racism, not promoting it," said Canadian Secretary of State for multiculturalism Jason Kenney, who said the Durban II conference "has gone completely off the rails."

U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the next US administration would decide whether to attend.

"I certainly don't think that presently we view it as a particularly valuable activity," Casey said.

Source: Haaretz