The organisers of the Bradford Literature Festival have described the scheduling of two talks on the Israel-Palestine conflict on Shabbat as unintentional and unfortunate.
Balfour and After: The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict and Israel-Palestine: Is There a Solution? will take place at 5.15pm and 6.30pm, respectively, on Saturday July 8. They are the only two events on the conflict in the programme. The events are talks given by academics by Karen Abi-Ezzi and Teodora Todorova.
Jewish festival-goer Eric Schiff complained to the organisers over his concern that observant Jews would not be able to attend the events.
He said it felt as if the festival’s organisers were “trying to exclude” criticism of Palestine, adding that, as a Jew, he would feel unwelcome at the discussions.
Mr Schiff, 65, from Mirfield, near Bradford, said: “For most people there, they will be supporters of Palestine. I would feel quite intimidated if I did go.”
Syma Aslam, the managing director of the festival, said organisers were aware of Shabbat, but a Saturday was the only day they could accommodate the speakers and the venue.
Because of the popular nature of the events, Ms Aslam said, organisers opted not to hold the events on a week day.
Although fewer than 300 Jews are estimated to live in Bradford, the city was home to a large Jewish community in the middle and late 19th century, and Bradford Reform Synagogue is the country’s oldest reform synagogue outside London.
An Orthodox synagogue was later founded, in 1881, by Russian Jews who had recently arrived in the city.
The Bradford Literature Festival will feature a number of other Jewish-related events, including a heritage tour of the area of the city which was home to a large German-Jewish community.
