Rabbis convention in Azerbaijan canceled over security concerns
Conference of European Rabbis event, the first of its kind in a Muslim country, was expected to attract hundreds of participants
A planned convention of the Conference of European Rabbis set to be held next week in Baku, Azerbaijan, has been canceled due to security concerns, the organizers said Monday.
The event had been expected to attract hundreds of participants from Europe, Israel, the United States, and other countries. Among the planned attendees were Israeli chief rabbis David Yosef and Kalman Ber, as well as Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli.
It is not clear whether there was a specific security threat that led to the cancellation. Over the past few days, Arab leaders, including the head of Turkey’s Homeland Party, Dogu Perincek, have called for the event to be canceled, warning that it served the interests of the United States and Israel.
The conference, which would have been the first of its kind to take place in a Muslim country, was planned as a display of interfaith cooperation. Promotional material for the gathering said it would address “the Abraham Accords, the promotion of freedom of religion, and the crucial fight against antisemitism in Europe.”
CER president Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt has said his organization aims to promote dialogue, interfaith activity and public engagement.
In a letter, the organization thanked the Azerbaijani government for agreeing to host the event, and expressed hope for continued collaboration in the future with European Jewish communities.
In June, a previous conference of the Conference of European Rabbis was canceled in Sarajevo. That event was derailed when the hotel that was set to host the event nixed it just days beforehand in response to pressure from anti-Israel activists. It was ultimately relocated to Munich.
In particular, an open letter by the Bosnian federal minister of labor and social policy, published in the local press, called on Sarajevo’s institutions to abandon what he described as “a message of legitimization of the occupation and systematic destruction of the Palestinian people.”
No word has been given on whether the Baku conference will be rescheduled.
Azerbaijan is considered one of the safest Muslim countries for Jews, thanks in large part to a secular government that actively promotes religious tolerance and interfaith harmony.
In December, however, a youth affiliated with the Islamic State terror organization attempted to attack a synagogue in Baku, according to Azerbaijani media reports.
Today, between 6,000 and 30,000 Jews live in the country, according to various estimates, with the majority living in Baku.
The country’s Jewish community is thought to date back some 2,500 years, to the Babylonian exile.