Rabbis cancel visit to Sarajevo, ask EU to retaliate to BiH

The three-day event was scheduled to take place from June 16 to 18, bringing together rabbis from across Europe—an announcement that sparked intense reactions in the country.

However, today the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) issued an official statement confirming the cancellation.

They stated that the Swissotel in Sarajevo, where participants were to be accommodated, withdrew from participation.

The cancellation follows an open letter written by the Federal Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Adnan Delic and published in the Bosnian press.

"‘Sarajevo,’ Federal Minister Delic writes, is a city of “openness and hospitality” and so should ban the European-Jewish event from its city. He called on “the organisers to immediately cancel the conference in Sarajevo, and on all relevant institutions to prevent its realisation, and on citizens and civil society organisations not to remain silent in the face of this attempt to morally humiliate our capital and our country.” In his letter, he invoked harsh rhetoric against the State of Israel, declaring it a “genocidal entity” committing “shameful crimes against humanity," said the statement by Chief Rabbi Goldschmidt, as reported by Faktor.

Chief Rabbi Goldschmidt wrote: “No other Bosnian Government official has contacted the Conference of European Rabbis. We have been made unwelcome and this last-minute, ministerial boycott of Jewish European citizens, dedicated to purely to promoting Jewish life in Europe and furthering dialogue and democracy across the continent, is disgraceful.”

Goldschmidt stated that the cancellation of the CER conference is a “loss for Sarajevo”, and that they are pleased the Bavarian government will support relocating the event to Munich.

“However, a wider question looms. This decision to block a European-Jewish conference on European soil is not only alarming but also revealing. It is a clear violation of EU commitments and values (The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Article 10 and 22; the European Council Declaration on Antisemitism, 2020). Bosnia and Herzegovina should certainly be cancelled and barred from accession to the European Union following this appalling targeting of a European faith group. Sarajevo has proclaimed itself a “city of openness and tolerance” — for anyone but Jews”, he wrote.

Opposition to the event in Sarajevo

Previously, the former Grand Mufti (reisu-l-ulema) of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mustafa Ceric, commented on the issue, explaining that "Sarajevo deserves respect for its moral sensitivity toward the Palestinian people in Gaza, just as it once showed moral sensitivity toward the Jewish people in Spain."

"Sarajevo is a city with a glorious past, but also a city with responsibility for the present. A city that has never remained silent in the face of injustice. A city that has never forgotten what it means to be attacked, besieged, subjected to violence, and abandoned by the world," said Ceric.

"The siege of Sarajevo, which lasted 1,425 days, remains a symbol of moral resistance and consistency. During that most difficult time, Sarajevo did not lose its human face. The city preserved the spirit of unity, tolerance, and solidarity, and it never succumbed to nationalism, chauvinism, or hatred—even toward those who tried to destroy it."

"Likewise, in the 15th century, while Europe burned in the flames of the Spanish Inquisition, Sarajevo opened its doors to persecuted Jews. They found refuge and a home here. Sarajevo preserved their heritage, culture, and the Haggadah—not as a foreign relic, but as a part of its own identity. Bosniak Muslims protected it even during the Nazi occupation, risking their own lives to safeguard what they considered part of their own dignity," Ceric added, among other things.