A new scandal in Sarajevo: The mayor fiercely opposes the exhibition on the crimes of Hamas

The Embassy of Israel in Bosnia and Herzegovina planned to organize an exhibition in Sarajevo on the occasion of the first anniversary of the massacre committed by members of Hamas on October 7 to remind of that crime, but immediately after the announcement the organizers received threats and everything was cancelled. On Wednesday, the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina published information about the organization of the exhibition on October 15, with the explanation that an appropriate reception will also be held in the elite Sarajevo hotel “Europa”.

The co-organizer, along with the Embassy of Israel, was to be the representative office of the Chamber of Commerce of Israel in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is headquartered in Mostar.

Immediately after the news was published in the media, numerous calls for violence and protests were published on social networks, and the mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Kari&cacute, also spoke strongly.

She is moreć earlier, on the occasion of Israel’s national holiday last year, it was forbidden to organize a festive reception in the City Hall on that occasion, as well as to light up the facade of that building with the colors of the Israeli flag.

This time Karić reacted with a post on Facebook, writing that she felt an obligation to publicly condemn “any image that unilaterally portrays the suffering of a people, while simultaneously ignoring the genocide in Gaza and the tragedy that the Palestinian people are going through.”

For her, remembering the victims of the Hamas terrorist attack would represent a “moral paradox” and a provocation.

“I call on those who have decided to cede space for this purpose to reconsider their decision!” threatened the SDP mayor who organized the installation of a monument to war victims dominated by a tank in the center of Sarajevo in September.

Earlier, she refused to allow to write on the monument to the civilian victims who were killed by renegade members of the BiH Army on Trebevi during the war in Sarajevo, who committed those crimes.

After her threat, the management of the “Europa” hotel announced that they had canceled the rental of the hall where the exhibition and reception of the Israeli embassy was to be held.

They explained that this is for security reasons,

“Now that we have found out, through the media, what it is about, of course we will follow the instructions of the security services and that we have canceled the event,” reads the hotel’s statement as reported by the Klix portal.