ROME — Italy said Thursday it is pulling out of a U.N. conference on racism _ the latest blow to a meeting seen by many Western governments as marred by Muslim attempts to attack Israel and shield Islam from criticism.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini also decided to postpone a planned trip to Iran in protest over remarks against Israel and the U.S. administration by Tehran's leadership, the ministry said in a statement.
Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Brussels, Frattini said Italy has withdrawn its delegation from the preparatory negotiations ahead of the so-called Durban II conference due to "aggressive and anti-Semitic statements" in the draft of the event's final document.
Frattini's comments on the conference were reported by Italian news agencies and confirmed by foreign ministry spokesman Maurizio Massari, who said Rome would not participate in the conference unless the document was changed.
"There are expressions of anti-Semitism," Massari said by telephone. "Until the document is modified we will not have a part in it."
The United States has imposed similar conditions. Israel and Canada have already announced a boycott.
Italy is the first EU country to officially withdraw from the conference, though other nations have threatened not to attend.
Islamic countries, still angry over cartoons and films attacking Muslims, have been campaigning for wording that would equate criticism of a religious faith with a violation of human rights.
The informal negotiations have proven difficult, with many issues that marked the first U.N. conference on racism in 2001 re-emerging _ such as criticism of Israel.
The April 20-25 meeting in Geneva is designed to review progress in fighting racism since the previous summit in South Africa. That meeting was marred by attacks on Israel and anti-Israel demonstrations at a parallel conference of non-governmental organizations.
The U.S. and Israel walked out midway through the conference over a draft resolution that singled Israel out for criticism and likened Zionism _ the movement to establish and maintain a Jewish state _ to racism.
Last week, the Obama administration said the United States will stay away from this year's meeting unless its final document is changed to drop all references to Israel and the defamation of religion.
European nations have expressed hope the summit can go ahead with a final text that is acceptable to all sides.
But they, too, have red lines they say cannot be crossed.
Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said in December that his country would walk out unless anti-Israel statements were scrapped. French diplomat Daniel Vosgien said then that his country opposed the idea of banning criticism of religion.
Members of Italy's center-left opposition and Jewish groups abroad praised Rome's move.
"We applaud Italy for its principled decision not to participate in a conference that seems determined to repeat, if not exceed, the disgrace of Durban in 2001," said David A. Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee.
Harris said in a statement he hoped the rest of the EU would join the pullout.
Also on Thursday, the Foreign Ministry in Rome said Frattini's visit to Tehran was postponed in part because of "unacceptable" statements by Iran's supreme leader.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday accused President Barack Obama of following the same path as the Bush administration with his "unconditional" support of Israel. Khamenei also called Israel a "cancerous tumor" that is on the verge of collapse.
Italy has traditionally good relations with Tehran and Frattini had been invited for talks expected to focus on Afghanistan and regional security issues, the ministry said last month. No date has been set for the trip.
