A delegation from a US commission on religious freedom announced on Monday that it had decided to shorten an official visit to Saudi Arabia after one of its members was asked to remove his kippa.
Abraham Cooper © The Forward
A delegation from a US commission on religious freedom announced on Monday that it had decided to shorten an official visit to Saudi Arabia after one of its members was asked to remove his kippa.
"No one should be denied access to a heritage site, especially one designed to showcase unity and progress, simply because they exist as a Jew," said the president of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Abraham Cooper, who is also an Orthodox Jew, as cited in a statement.
"Saudi Arabia is promoting change as part of its Vision 2030," referring to an ambitious reform program aimed at diversifying the economy. "However, especially at a time when anti-Semitism is rampant, being asked to remove my kippa prevented us, members of the USCIRF, from continuing our visit to the Diriyah site," a UNESCO World Heritage site located northwest of Riyadh, according to the statement.
"We note, with particular regret, that this happened to a representative of a US government agency promoting religious freedom," he added.
This commission on religious freedom is a government advisory body mandated by the US Congress.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants fired on Saudi oil installations in two ports on the Red Sea coast on Saturday, but the United States held back from launching air strikes on Iran itself for the first night in two weeks.
Yemen is edging towards the resumption of a more than decade-old frozen conflict, Yemeni officials, Western diplomats and analysts say, as attacks on Saudi infrastructure and shipping by Iran-aligned Houthis test the patience of the kingdom and the Yemeni government forces it backs.
Four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed near a Palestinian village on Friday in a confrontation that added to a growing toll over recent weeks as Israeli settler violence has intensified against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
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