Rabbi asked to remove kippah while on religious freedom mission

A US religious freedom commission left Saudi Arabia after co-chair Rabbi Abraham Cooper was asked to remove his kippah while in public.

(JTA) — A U.S. government delegation tasked with monitoring religious freedom around the world cut a visit to Saudi Arabia short after Saudi officials demanded that a prominent rabbi on the trip remove his kippah.

Saudi officials told Rabbi Abraham Cooper, co-chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, to remove his kippah while in public, the commission said in a statement on Monday.

Cooper, an Orthodox rabbi and the director of global social action for the Simon Wiesenthal Center advocacy group, “politely” refused the request with the backing of U.S. embassy staff, the statement said.

Saudi officials then escorted the government delegation from the premises of Diriyah, a UNESCO World Heritage site on the outskirts of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The delegation decided to end its visit to Saudi Arabia prematurely following the incident.

The delegation arrived in Saudi Arabia on March 3 and was invited to visit Diriyah, the original home of the Saudi royal family, two days later. The commission said the visit had been delayed several times and it wasn’t clear on which day the incident occurred. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had approved the visit.

Saudi officials demanded Cooper remove his kippah while at Diriyah and “any time he was to be in public,” the commission said.