The fear all along has been that the United Nations conference on racism would be manipulated into yet another forum for demonizing Israel. All too predictably, Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — who has called the Holocaust a myth and has advocated Israel’s destruction — did just that.

In an ugly speech on Monday that served to divide and incite rather than find constructive solutions to racism, Mr. Ahmadinejad said the formation of the state of Israel left “an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering” in order “to establish a totally racist government in occupied Palestine.”

We commend France and other European nations for walking out in protest.

There are legitimate questions to be raised about Israel’s handling of the Gaza war, which had a disturbingly high number of civilian casualties. The Israeli military last month investigated allegations of abuses made by Israel’s own soldiers and quickly concluded that crucial data were based on “hearsay.” We agree with the nine Israeli human rights groups that have called for an independent inquiry. A spotlight also must be focused on the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza. Human Rights Watch said in a new report that Hamas has been killing and maiming political opponents.

The last United Nations conference on racism — in 2001 — deteriorated into an Israel-bashing spectacle. Israel was the only country singled out in the final conference communiqué. Many participants, including the Russians, worked hard to try to ensure that this year’s meeting would be different. While there have been improvements in the communiqué, as now written, it would affirm the conclusions of the last one, implicitly still singling out Israel.

The United Nations conference can never have credibility, or value, if it is used to attack one country — Israel — especially when so many other countries have truly abysmal human rights records, including China, Sudan and Iran.

After weighing the issue, President Obama decided not to send an American delegation to the conference. Perhaps it would have been better if his administration had been present to fight for an improved communiqué until the end. Ceding the podium to Mr. Ahmadinejad and his ilk is not the most effective strategy — for defending Israel or for promoting human rights.