A meeting of leading European rabbis has been canceled in Sarajevo after high-profile appeals against their gathering.
About 50 Jewish leaders were headed to the meeting of the Conference of European Rabbis, scheduled for next week at the Swissotel in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. But on Tuesday, the hotel notified the CER that it was nixing their event because of “recent developments and significant public attention.”
Swissotel also cited “the aim of ensuring the safety of all participants and protecting our staff and property” based on “information and instructions from the authorities,” according to a message seen by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
This cancellation followed an open letter by the Bosnian Federal Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Adnan Delić, which was published in the local press. Delić called on Sarajevo’s institutions to abandon the conference, which he described as “a message of legitimization of the occupation and systematic destruction of the Palestinian people.”
Delić said it was “morally insulting” for Sarajevo to host a gathering that would signal support for Israel, drawing a parallel between the plight of Palestinians in Gaza and Sarajevo’s history of besiegement and genocide by Serb forces in the 1990s.
The CER meeting was set to discuss European Jewish communities and religious rights. Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the CER, said his organization aims to promote dialogue, interfaith activity and public engagement. The CER has no official link with Israel.
“This last-minute, ministerial boycott of Jewish European citizens, dedicated purely to promoting Jewish life in Europe and furthering dialogue and democracy across the continent, is disgraceful,” Goldschmidt said in a statement.
Silvia de Candia, a spokesperson for Swissotel’s parent company Accor, said the hotel made a risk assessment based on “potential protests” and other security threats to customers and staff. She said the cancellation was “in no way representative of any political affiliation or ideology.”
The speaker of Bosnia’s House of Representatives told local press that while he denounced the “genocide in Gaza,” foreign dignitaries and representatives of Bosnia’s religious minorities are welcome in the country. “Much more radical advocates of Zionism than European rabbis” have visited, Dragan Mioković said.
Bosnia is home to an estimated 1,000 Jews who, like other minority ethnic groups, are legally barred from holding some political offices. The country is half Muslim, with Christians making up nearly all of the other half.
“Before every prayer, everything begins and ends with the word ‘shalom,’ which means peace,” Jakob Finci, head of Bosnia’s Jewish community, said about Jewish convenings, according to local press. “This is a sad slap that Sarajevo has given itself.”
Delić’s comments were joined by another denunciation from Mustafa Cerić, the president of the World Bosniak Congress and former Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Cerić said that Sarajevo could not platform the CER unless they took a stand for “the immediate cessation of genocide in Gaza,” a peace agreement and Israel’s withdrawal from the enclave.
Cerić also said that Sarajevo “has never fallen into the trap of antisemitism,” referencing the 15th-century arrival of Jews in the city after fleeing the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions. These early Jewish settlers were legally second-class citizens, like other non-Muslims in the Ottoman Empire, though they received significant autonomy.
The CER meeting has been relocated to Munich after the Bavarian government agreed to step in as host.
Goldschmidt said that beyond the public appeal by Delić, he had not heard from any Bosnian government officials about the cancellation in Sarajevo. He said the incident amounted to “a clear violation of EU commitments and values,” calling for the EU to reconsider Bosnia and Herzegovina’s accession as a member state. The country received candidate status to become a member in 2022.
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