The announced meeting of the European Conference of Rabbis, which was planned in Sarajevo in mid-June, was canceled after a stormy reaction in the domestic public. Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt called on the European Union to cancel BiH’s membership.
The three-day meeting was supposed to take place from June 16 to 18, according to the announcement. The planned gathering of rabbis from all over Europe was to cause fierce reactions.
However, today the CER received an official statement about the cancellation.
They say that the Swissotel in Sarajevo, where they were supposed to be accommodated, “shockingly” canceled their participation.
Goldschmidt’s reaction
“The cancellation followed an open letter written by the Federal Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Adnan Delić, which was published in the BiH press.
‘Sarajevo’, writes Federal Minister Delić, is a city of ‘openness and hospitality’ and therefore the EuropeanJewish event should be banned in its city’. He called on ‘the organizers to immediately cancel the conference in Sarajevo, and all relevant institutions to prevent its implementation, and citizens and civil society organizations not to remain silent in the face of this attempt to morally humiliate our capital and our country’. In his letter, he referred to the harsh rhetoric against Israel, declaring it a ‘genocidal entity’ that commits ‘shameful crimes against humanity'”, reads the statement by Chief Rabbi Goldschmidt.
“No other BiH government official contacted the Conference of European Rabbis. They have made us unwelcome and this ministerial boycott of Jewish European citizens at the last hour, dedicated solely to promoting Jewish life in Europe and advancing dialogue and democracy across the continent, is shameful,” he said.
Goldschmidt said the cancellation of the CER conference was “a loss for Sarajevo” and that they were delighted that the Bavarian government would support moving the event to Munich.
EU Call
“However,” Goldschmidt continued, “this decision to block a European-Jewish conference on European soil is not only alarming, but also revealing.”
“This is a clear violation of EU obligations and values (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Articles 10 and 22; Declaration of the European Council on Antisemitism, 2020). Bosnia and Herzegovina should definitely be suspended from membership and banned from the European Union after this shameful criticism of a European religious group. Sarajevo has declared itself a ‘city of openness and tolerance’ for everyone except Jews,” reads the reaction of Chief Rabbi Goldschmidt.
Cerić: Sarajevo will not be a platform for justifying crimes against Palestinians
“Sarajevo deserves to be respected for its moral sensitivity towards the Palestinian people in Gaza, just as it was for its moral sensitivity towards the Jewish people in Spain,” said former reisu-l-ulema of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina Mustafa Cerić on the occasion of the announcement of the Congress of European Rabbis to be held in Sarajevo.
“Sarajevo is a city with a glorious past, but also a city with a responsibility towards the present. A city that has never been silent in the face of injustice. A city that has never forgotten what it means to be attacked, besieged, exposed to violence and forgotten by the world,” said Cerić.
“The siege of Sarajevo, which lasted for 1,425 days, remains a symbol of moral resistance and consistency. In that most difficult time, Sarajevo did not lose its human face. The city preserved the spirit of togetherness, tolerance and solidarity, and never succumbed to nationalism, chauvinism or hatred – even towards those who tried to destroy it.
Likewise, in the 15th century, at a time when Europe was burning in the flames of the “Spanish Inquisition”, Sarajevo opened its doors to the persecuted Jews. They found refuge and home here. Sarajevo preserved their heritage, culture and Haggadah – not as a foreign shrine, but as part of their own identity. Bosniak Muslims protected her even during the Nazi occupation, sacrificing their own lives to preserve what they considered part of their dignity,” Cerić added, among other things, N1 writes.
