June 24--A nonprofit group devoted to promoting global fellowship and civic conversations is under fire for rescinding an invitation to one of Israel's top U.S. diplomats.
Roey Gilad, consul general of Israel to the Midwest, on June 18 was to discuss whether religions can build peace in the Middle East as part of a series of events sponsored by the Niagara Foundation. But three days before Gilad's scheduled appearance, organizers called off the event.
In a statement posted on its website Wednesday, the Niagara Foundation said it pursues its mission of sustaining relationships between people of different cultures and faiths "by striving to create safe spaces dedicated to reducing the tensions of ethnic, racial, religious, and political partisanship and rancor." The organization said it called off the event "because it determined that it was ill-suited to Niagara's aforementioned stated mission of fostering positive interfaith dialogue in an apolitical environment free from contentiousness."
"Contrary to the recent claims by a few pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel groups, Niagara does not schedule, reschedule or cancel its programming due to external pressure."
Renie Schreiber, press officer for the Consulate General of Israel in Chicago, said Gilad was surprised when he got a call saying the foundation had canceled because "they had received many complaints."
"The Niagara Foundation is always open to dialogue," Schreiber said. "The consul general has always seen it as a serious organization. We were disappointed that they canceled the event."
Amy Stoken, director of Chicago's chapter of the American Jewish Committee, blamed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, or BDS, a global effort to put economic pressure on Israel to change its policies on settlements built on lands claimed by the Palestinians.
"The BDS campaign's goal is to delegitimize Israel and discourage peaceful negotiations," Stoken said in a statement. "This is a clear example of how they fight to silence any dialogue that can lead to progress and a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict."
"The Niagara Foundation has an admirable goal of fostering understanding between peoples, and it is shameful that the BDS movement targeted them to advance their hateful agenda," Stoken added.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization, demanded an apology from the Niagara Foundation for caving to pressure and canceling the event.
"This craven act legitimizes anti-Semitism and is unacceptable in 21st century America," said Alison Pure-Slovin, Midwest director of the Wiesenthal Center.
But Kristin Szremski, communications director for American Muslims for Palestine, an advocacy group based in Palos Hills, said in an interview the label of anti-Semitism is often used to discredit advocates for Palestinian rights.
"When you want policies to change, that's not anti-Semitic," she said. "According one group of people human rights does not detract from the human rights of another people."
She said the event threatened to confuse people by presenting the source of the Middle East conflict as religious tension.
"If there is any tension at all, it's a political tension that goes back to the occupation of Palestine," she said.
Szremski said the event's timing also was sensitive -- on the first day of Ramadan and the first anniversary of Israel's bombing of five sites in the Gaza Strip. Gaza-based militants reportedly had been firing rockets into southern Israel for five days prior to the bombings. On Monday, a United Nations inquiry concluded that both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants violated international law in the fighting that unfolded last summer, ultimately killing thousands of Palestinians.
The Niagara Foundation was founded in 2004 by a group of Turkish-Americans who follow Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish Muslim scholar and poet who preaches a combination of Islamic piety and Sufi mysticism, as well as free markets, democracy and religious tolerance.
In 2012, Niagara opened its Center for Public and Global Affairs to reach out to public officials, as well as civic and business leaders in the community. It was that center that has invited Gilad in the past. This time, he was invited to speak as part of Niagara's Friends in Faith series, which has featured Coptic Christians, Anabaptists, Buddhists and Jews. It also has featured the region's consul general of Egypt.
In its statement, Niagara expressed frustration that advocates had disregarded the foundation's mission and embroiled it in an advocacy feud.
"We at Niagara profoundly regret the posturing of groups from both sides wishing to prioritize their own political agendas over the deeper values and concerns to which our mission is dedicated," the statement said. "We do not wish to be party to crowding out, yet again, the already limited space our society provides for respectful dialogue for the purposes of mutual understanding."
mbrachear@tribpub.com
