After the cancellation of a concert that was to have marked the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the start of mass persecutions of Jews in Nazi Germany, the Jewish Community of Sarajevo said on Thursday the decision was based on a police assessment following the escalation of the Middle East conflict.

In a statement, signed by its president Jakob Finci, the Jewish Community of Sarajevo said that the police assessment cited the need to step up the protection of buildings important for the Jewish and Palestinian communities in the country.

“Considering that… as well as the increase in anti-Semitism and the lack of a response by the competent authorities, we have decided to cancel the event due to fears that it could be abused for daily politics,” the Jewish Community said in a statement on the cancellation of the event, originally scheduled for 8 November.

It noted that Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina Jews feel safe but that decisions made by the Jewish Community are in line with legal regulations and the current social circumstances.

It described as tendentious and irresponsible media speculation about the reasons for the cancellation of the concert.

A Sarajevo-based news portal close to radical Bosniak political circles has accused the Croatian Embassy in Sarajevo, one of the organisers of the event, of being responsible for its cancellation, claiming the motive was a conspiracy “to accuse Sarajevo of anti-Semitism.”

The embassy was among the organisers of the concert as Croatia currently chairs the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), an international organisation founded to commemorate the Holocaust victims by studying historical facts.

The embassy responded by issuing a statement in which it said that it was appalled by the reports that “draw a target” on embassy staff, expressing concern over the negative atmosphere in Sarajevo, which, it said, representatives of Jewish organisations had also pointed to.