President of the Conference of European Rabbis, Pinchas Goldschmidt, stated that it was not the rabbis who canceled the conference in Sarajevo, but Bosnia and Herzegovina itself. He added that due to such attitudes, the organization decided to call for the suspension of BiH’s EU accession talks.
“We wanted to come. Even after the campaign against us began, including the letter from the Minister of Labor, we still wanted to come and remained in contact with the mayor of Sarajevo. But we were increasingly concerned about safety,” Goldschmidt told Deutsche Welle.
He explained that the conference was definitively canceled after they received an email from Swissotel, the venue, informing them that the event was being canceled.
“The cancellation did not come from our side. It came from the BiH side. This is likely the first time since World War II that a European country—or one that considers itself European and wants to join the European Union—has told a European Jewish organization: ‘You are not welcome,’” Goldschmidt emphasized.
He added that such a stance is inconsistent with European values and laws.
“We believe that a country that demonstrates such disrespect toward European diversity and religious communities is simply not ready for EU membership,” said Goldschmidt.
The president of the European Rabbis Conference also addressed the open letter by Federation of BiH Labor and Social Policy Minister Adnan Delić, who called for a boycott of the rabbinical conference in Sarajevo, referring to Israel as a “genocidal entity.” Goldschmidt noted that attempts were made to establish communication with government representatives, but no response followed.
“We tried to reach out and had some communication through the mayor of Sarajevo. We were also in contact with the High Representative Christian Schmidt. But from the rest of the government—there was complete silence. And that silence, in some ways, speaks louder than the official call for a boycott from a government minister,” Goldschmidt said.
He further noted that hosting the conference at a different hotel was not a viable option.
“First of all, I’m not sure people in BiH are aware, but just as Muslims have halal, Jews have kosher. To organize a rabbinical conference, we need a specially prepared kitchen, which has to be arranged well in advance with kosher food. We can’t just switch hotels overnight. And then there are the security concerns,” he explained.
He added that even if another hotel had offered its premises, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t also cancel at the last moment.
Goldschmidt said he doesn’t know what kind of pressure was placed on the hotel, and while antisemitism exists in society, the more dangerous phenomenon is state-sponsored antisemitism.
“It’s one thing to have antisemitism in society, but another to have state-level antisemitism. And what we witnessed here was precisely that. And I’m not just referring to your minister. I’m also talking about the letter we received from former Grand Mufti Mustafa Cerić, once the head of the Islamic Community in BiH. A disturbing letter. I know him personally. I was shocked to receive something like that from him. For a Muslim religious leader to say to Jewish religious leaders that they are not welcome—I believe BiH society has a lot of soul-searching to do. Because the moment you tell any European minority they are not welcome—BiH has a serious problem,” Goldschmidt concluded in his interview with Deutsche Welle.
Source: RTRS
