Dubai denies ICC Israel rep entrance for global conference

International Chamber of Commerce chairman in Israel slams Gulf state's decision to deny chamber's banking committee head visa to take part international summit. Conference to take place as scheduled, but ICC adopts recommendation not to hold any more meetings in states that refuse entrance to members in the future

Eli Shimoni |Published: 03.08.09 , 13:52

After refusing to grant a visa to Israeli tennis pro Shahar Peer, the United Aarab Emirates is now denying entrance to Sarah Younger of the International Chamber of Commerce's Israel branch.

Younger, ICC Israel's banking committee chairwoman, applied for a visa to enter the Gulf state to participate in an ICC bankers' conference scheduled for Monday in Dubai.

The ICC is a Paris-based international business and trade office that has branches in 140 countries throughout the world. Younger, who is also the manager of Bank Leumi's international trade section, was invited to the conference as the ICC's Israel representative.

ICC Israel Chairman Oren Shachor, who is staying in Paris with a delegation of top Israeli legalists, is working to have the decision overturned.

The conference is planned to proceed as scheduled, with 250 of the 300 representatives already in Dubai, but the ICC has adopted Shacor's recommendation not to allow any of its conferences to take place in countries that will not allow the entrance of representatives of its 140 member states.

'Great achievement for Israel's PR'

Shachor told Ynet on Saturday, "On Friday there was a board meeting, and I brought it up in an assertive, unequivocal way – and all the representatives condemned the incident. The fact that ICC's global management has adopted the decision not to allow meetings in countries that deny entrance to representatives is an important achievement for Israel's PR.

"At the start of July a large conference is planned in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, where representatives of ICC and commerce chambers from all over the world will take part. The organization has guaranteed that a similar incident will not occur in Kuala Lumpur. We will turn the Dubai incident into a symbol... we will not hold conferences in any country that denies entrance to participants."

Shachor continued to say, "Dubai's behavior is shameful, and I recommended that they do not allow for any conventions in Dubai in the future. I also said that we have no problem holding the conference in Israel and allowing the Syrian delegation in the ICC to take part.

"If the Syrian delegation wanted to come to Israel, I believe that State of Israel would not act as Dubai, and this would be a great achievement. I believe the problem would actually be on the other side."

When asked if he had expected the organization's representatives to boycott the Dubai conference in light of the incident, Shachor said, "I don't expect them to boycott, but to support us so we can take part in conferences everywhere. I am not in favor of boycotting policies, but of policies of participation and showing presence."