The Conference of European Rabbis (CER) has cancelled its planned convention in Baku, Azerbaijan, originally scheduled for 3–6 November, citing unspecified security concerns.
The gathering, which organisers said would have drawn about 600 participants – including rabbis, religious leaders and political figures from Europe, Israel, the United States and elsewhere – was to represent the first major meeting of European rabbinical leaders in a predominantly Muslim country.
The convention had been held at the invitation of the Azerbaijani government and aimed to provide a platform to address the major challenges and perspectives of Jewish life in the modern world.
Chief Rabbis David Yosef and Kalman Ber, as well as Israeli ministers Amichai Chikli and Amichai Eliyahu, were scheduled to attend. No further details were released about the nature of the security concerns or whether the event will be rescheduled.
In a related development, a Baku court has sentenced 18-year-old Abdulla Aliyev to 13 years in a high-security prison for plotting a terrorist attack on the “Mountain Jews Synagogue” in central Baku.
Aliyev was detained by Azerbaijan’s State Security Service after approaching the synagogue on 28 December 2024 in a vehicle containing Molotov cocktails, knives and an axe.
He was charged under multiple terrorism-related articles of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code for planning and attempting an attack motivated by religious hatred and linked to the extremist group ISIS-Khorasan. In his final statement, Aliyev expressed remorse.
The sentencing follows testimony that he had recruited others via social media, including encrypted chat groups, and had pledged allegiance to extremist leaders. The case and the cancellation of the rabbinical conference highlight heightened concerns over security and religious-extremist threats in Azerbaijan.
