US-mandated religious freedom group ends Saudi trip early after rabbi ordered to remove his kippah

FILE- Rabbi Abraham Cooper, center, of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, speaks in front of civic and faith leaders outside City Hall, Thursday, May 20, 2021, in Los Angeles. A U.S. Congress-mandated group cut short a fact-finding mission to Saudi Arabia over officials in the kingdom ordering a Jewish rabbi to remove his kippah in public, highlighting the religious tensions still present in the wider Middle East. – A U.S.

Officials in Saudi Arabia, as well as at the Saudi Embassy in Washington, did not respond to questions from the AP over the kippah incident. A message from the embassy released online called it “unfortunate" and “a misunderstanding of internal protocols,” without elaborating. “It's a pretty stunning request, considering we’re there as a vanguard for international religious freedom and we’re preparing a report on Saudi Arabia,” said Cooper, who lives in Los Angeles.

Saudi Arabia's Al Saud royal family, which bases part of its legitimacy on protecting the holiest sites in Islam in the kingdom, particularly feels that pressure. Just before the war, it had been negotiating a U.S.-mediated deal to potentially diplomatically recognize Israel in exchange for a series of concessions.

Responding to questions from the AP, the State Department said it had “raised our concerns with Saudi government authorities” over the order given to Cooper to remove his kippah.

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