Opinion | U.S. religious freedom effort gets an unwelcome message in Saudi Arabia – The Washington Post

A stunning incident experienced by a U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom delegation during an official visit to Saudi Arabia this month should go neither unnoticed nor spared from serious reflection. Ironically, it confirmed in a pointed way the kingdoms practice of infringing on religious beliefs.

During a visit that began March 3, the delegation was scheduled to tour Diriyah, the original home of the royal family and location of a UNESCO World Heritage site, on the outskirts of Riyadh.

Before entering the site, Saudi authorities requested commission Chair Abraham Cooper, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, to remove his kippah, or yarmulke, while there or any time he was in public. Cooper refused, and the delegation consequently cut short its visit and left Saudi Arabia.

In a telephone interview last week, Cooper told me that, as an observant Jew, he had respectfully refused to remove his kippah. Saudi officials, he said, told him they could not allow public displays of any faith other than Islam and proceeded to consult other Saudi authorities by phone. Ten minutes later, Cooper said, he and the delegation were escorted off the premises.

Cooper said he advised his delegation that since he was prevented from wearing his religious head covering, he would leave Saudi Arabia. The commissions vice chair, the Rev. Frederick A. Davie, a senior adviser at the Union Theological Seminary, said, Im leaving, too, Cooper said. The next morning, the entire delegation departed the kingdom.

Cooper said he had worn his kippah with no problems in the delegations earlier meetings at the Saudi Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry and Human Rights Commission. Since the incident at Diriyah, Cooper said he has heard privately from Saudi Foreign Ministry officials who, while not directly apologizing for what happened, acknowledged the discomfort caused by the incident.

The Saudi Embassy in Washington issued a brief statement described as a clarification on Coopers denied entry to Diriyah. This unfortunate incident, wrote the embassy, was the result of a misunderstanding of internal protocols. The statement went on to say that the matter was escalated to senior officials, and HRH the Ambassador i.e., Her Royal Highness Reema bint Bandar, Saudi Arabias ambassador to the United States had the opportunity to speak with the Rabbi. The matter was resolved but we respect his decision to not continue the tour. The statement concluded, We look forward to welcoming him back to the Kingdom.

As well they should. The commissions work, established by Congress, is to monitor and independently report on and promote religious freedom in the world. The Diriyah incident strikes at the heart of internationally adopted religious rights, including individuals freedom to wear religious symbols and attire.

In a statement on his departure, Cooper added another dimension: Especially in a time of raging antisemitism, being asked to remove my kippah made it impossible for us from USCIRF to continue our visit.

With or without raging antisemitism, the U.S. delegation might have encountered the same treatment.

The U.S. State Department leaves no ambiguity with respect to religious freedoms in Saudi Arabia. The departments travel advisory states:

Islam is the official religion of the country and is present in all aspects of life in Saudi Arabia. Saudi authorities do not permit criticism of Islam or Muslim religious figures, including on social media. The government prohibits the public practice of religions other than Islam. Public display of non-Islamic religious articles, such as crosses and Bibles, is not permitted.

I know from visits to Saudi Arabia in the 1980s that restrictions on public non-Islamic religious observances were strictly applied.

That, however, should not discourage current efforts to work with the Saudi government on the kind of issue that forced the Commission on International Religious Freedom to leave the country. In fact, the episode only reinforces the need to press the Saudis to review and refine their stated 2030 vision of a new and vibrant society. A country that denies its people and visitors the right to believe according to their conscience, that encourages harassment and intimidation, and that makes people subject to discrimination, arrests or prosecution because of their beliefs is not visionary but a foe of religious freedom.

The Diriyah demarcation was a Saudi misstep in the wrong direction. A do-over might help undo the damage.

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Opinion | U.S. religious freedom effort gets an unwelcome message in Saudi Arabia - The Washington Post