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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/11/us-delegation-saudi-arabia-kippah
U.S. Delegation Leaves Saudi Arabia Early over Kippah Row
(AFP-Guardian-UK) The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said its delegation was near Riyadh visiting Diriyah, a historic town and UNESCO world heritage site, when the commission's chair, Orthodox rabbi Abraham Cooper, "refused their requests that he remove his religious head covering." USCIRF said officials requested that Cooper remove his kippah "while at the site and any time he was to be in public, even though the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs had approved the site visit." USCIRF, a U.S. government advisory body mandated by the U.S. Congress, said it was particularly regrettable it happened to the representative of "an American government agency that promotes religious freedom." Rev. Frederick Davie, the USCIRF vice-chair, described the incident as "stunning and painful."