ANTI-SEMITIC ACTIONS BY POLITICAL SARAJEVO ARE SERIOUSLY DAMAGING BiH'S INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION

MOSTAR, JUNE 12 /SRNA/ - The Croatian National Assembly /HNS/ of BiH has stated that the actions by representatives of the Sarajevo authorities, which led to the cancellation of the annual Conference of European Rabbis, have seriously damaged the international reputation of BiH.

"This unprecedented incident indicates a troubling closed-mindedness of certain Sarajevo political representatives towards dialogue and cooperation with minority communities and other constituent peoples," says a press release. The HNS BiH strongly condemns the anti-Semitic actions by the political Sarajevo and expresses deep regret over the threats and attacks suffered by representatives of the European rabbis and members of the Jewish community. The press release adds that it was thanks to parliamentary initiatives of the president of the HNS Dragan Čović that the definition of anti-Semitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance /IHRA/ was proposed and adopted, which further obliges BiH and its authorities to condemn and reject all forms of anti-Semitism. The HNS BiH says that it will use all social, political, and other means to ensure that no Jew in BiH is discriminated against on any grounds. The President of the European Conference of Rabbis /CER/, Finkas Goldschmidt, stated yesterday that the meeting of the Standing Committee of this Conference was canceled due to "Sarajevo rhetoric," and called for BiH’s membership in the EU to be banned. Goldschmidt said that chief rabbis from across Europe, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, were supposed to meet in Sarajevo to discuss the most urgent issues facing European Jewish life today, as well as matters of freedom of religion or belief.