Konaković: Sarajevo is being falsely accused, rabbis cancel conference due to hotel email
I spoke with the director of OSA, he did not say that there is a compromised security situation, as well as with the Sarajevo commissioner who also did not give any such assessment, says the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Elmedin Konaković commented on the cancellation of the Conference of European Rabbis in Sarajevo, which, as he says, has raised a topic that is more addressed by politicians than by religious ones, and is creating spin that is damaging to BiH.
He explained the situation from the perspective of his ministry, which, he says, should and had to have an important role in this event.
“I officially found out on the morning of June 11, when we received an official e-mail that an important meeting of European rabbis would be held in Sarajevo in five days and that we needed to take measures and actions, which is coordination with the entire system.
We forwarded it to the competent institutions, which are the Ministry of Security and the Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies, because it is a security challenge,” says Konaković.
However, he emphasizes that a few hours later he learned that the conference had been canceled.
“The hotel sends an e-mail that there are security problems, we are investigating how and in what way and who gave the people from the Swiss Hotel such dangerous information.
And the organizers, without consulting any of us, cancel the meeting.
I spoke with the director of OSA, he did not say that there was a compromised security situation, as well as with the Sarajevo commissioner, who also did not give any such assessment.
The hotel is actually the one who informed people that it was not safe,” says Konaković and adds that “that’s when manipulations begin, for this important topic that has been misused”.
He reveals that there was interest and in some way pressure to hold the aforementioned conference in Mostar and Banja Luka, but that the secretary and Rabbi Goldschmidt did not accept it.
He also admits that federal minister Adnan Delić had an inappropriate reaction against the gathering, but added that he did so on a private profile on social networks and that no institutions were behind it.
This caused a backlash, Konaković adds, led by certain politicians who even demanded that BiH’s European path be stopped.
“I would send a clear message to the European Commission and its spokesperson, if the news is true that he accused BiH institutions of giving and then withdrawing consent, to urgently apologize to BiH and the institutions.
We are currently writing a letter to Luigi Soreca, head of the European Union Delegation to BiH. It is unacceptable for anyone to play with BiH institutions, including the spokesperson for the European Commission, because they neither gave nor withdrew permission,” says Konaković.
He notes that the hunt for Sarajevo, its multiculturalism, has begun, something that has not been recorded in this city…
“In World War II, Bosniaks saved the Haggadah, guarded synagogues and other buildings, and those who demolished them, who committed crimes against Jews, now hold moral responsibilities.
That is unacceptable, that such a narrative is imposed on Sarajevo, we will not allow that, as far as I am concerned,” says Konaković.
He appeals to Goldschmidt and others not to fall into political traps and announces that he will visit both the Jewish community and the Palestinian community in BiH.
“Attempts to radicalize the Bosniak people, to link them with Hamas… that does not work,” said Konaković.
He also spoke about Gaza, where Israeli forces are committing crimes, emphasizing that “we were not afraid to say what we think, even if neither the European nor the American administrations were happy about it, and who are our most important foreign partners.”
Konaković condemned Israel’s attack on Iran, especially at a time when messages are coming from the US administration that nuclear negotiations are progressing.
