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| Controversy at World Economic Forum in Davos
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The executive chairman of the World Economic Forum has apologised after a magazine distributed at the organisation’s conference in Switzerland this week called for a boycott of Israel.
The publication, Global Agenda, contained an article saying Israel should be boycotted because of its ongoing struggle with the Palestinians. On Thursday Klaus Schwab made clear that he regretted the publication of the article, saying it was not in the spirit of the meeting.
The WFE is a think-thank which has this week hosted an annual high level meeting of economical and political leaders in Davos, Switzerland.
“This article is totally in contradiction to my own, and the forum’s, mission and values,” Mr. Schwab said.
“For 36 years I have been committed to fighting for mutual understanding in the world. The forum has been deeply involved in the efforts to create better relations and reconciliation in the Middle East and throughout the world.”
Internal investigation
Schwab said he investigated how the article, “Boycott Israel,” by Mazin Qumsiyeh, found its way into the magazine.
“I concluded there was an unacceptable failure in the editorial process, specifically an insufficiently short period for review of content – for which there is no excuse,” he said. “I, on behalf of the forum, profoundly apologise and express my regrets to everyone.”
The article on Israel had drawn no response until Wednesday, when an American technology executive raised questions about its tone.
The article called for global civil society to boycott Israel “until it ends its apartheid-like treatment of Palestinians.”
 I concluded there was an unacceptable failure in the editorial process, specifically an insufficiently short period for review of content – for which there is no excuse
Klaus Schwab | As part of its historical review, the piece asserted that, "Zionism can be seen as 19th Century style chauvinistic, ethnocentric... nationalistic response to prevalent European chauvinistic, ethnocentric nationalisms. It is in this sense an attempt at assimilation by some Jews following a now-outdated European colonial model."
In the last paragraph he proposed that "global civil society ... build a "Movement Against Zionism" or a global "Movement Against Israeli Apartheid."
Free speech?
Qumsiyeh is an American citizen of Palestinian descent who frequently writes in support of Palestinian causes. In a telephone interview from New Jersey, he said he had been asked to submit the article by a staff writer at the magazine.
"Why is free speech not allowed?" said Mr. Qumsiyeh, a geneticist. He said his article called for a nonviolent response to Israeli policy.
Shimon Samuels of the Simon Wiesenthal Center said the article was a “tirade of anti-Semitism.”
"I was shocked," said Rabbi Awraham S. Soetendorp, of the Jewish Institute for Human Values in the Netherlands, who was attending the forum. "The issue that Zionism was equated with racism was so outrageous."
Online links to the article were met by a message saying the page could not be found. Copies of the magazine at the Congress Center, where the meeting is taking place, were removed, forum spokesman Justin Blake said.
Schwab said steps had been taken to ensure a similar incident would not happen again, but he did not elaborate.
“I would like to confirm to all our friends in the Middle East, and throughout the world, that the forum will continue, under my leadership, to do everything possible to foster dialogue and open communication among all parties, based on mutual respect and recognition, and not on confrontation,” he said.
Jewish groups welcomed Schwab’s apology.
“We appreciate Mr. Schwab’s quick action in investigating how that article got into print, in expressing his regret publicly, and in assuring that appropriate steps have been instituted to ensure that this will never happen again,” said David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee.
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