No Israelis need apply

Elder of Ziyon has been trying to stay on top of the ever-shifting story of the Susan G. Komen breast cancer awareness conference in Egypt from which the Israeli delegation was dis-invited at the last minute.

It's odd how no updates seem to be forthcoming on this situation.

Last Monday, Israel National News reported that Egyptian Health Minister Hatem El-Gabali had advised the Israelis they would not be welcome at the conference, which was to start two days later. 

On Tuesday, the ADL issued a public call to Komen to protest that decision and demand that the ban be lifted.

On Friday, Komen issued a press release by its founder, Nancy Brinker, suggesting that the problem had been resolved.

After we received the initial report on the situation, we launched a diplomatic effort to ensure they would be able to participate. I am pleased to report that our efforts led to confirmation that all advocates would be welcome to participate in the events.

But subsequent requests for clarification and confirmation have met with ambiguous responses, mostly just referring back to the press release.  This thread at the Komen website open forum is illustrative, with the admin moderator unable to provide a definitive answer as to whether the Israeli delegation was, in fact, seated.  In the last hour, this comment was posted:

from a friend who happens to be in Egypt:
"I'm staying at the same Four Seasons hotel in Giza with the Komen reps - spoke with a few earlier tonight by the pool, they are quietly upset but standing idly by..."
pretty weak...

So far, that's as close to an update as I've been able to find.  If that's the best they can do, I think Komen will be losing a lot of support over this (mine included), for reasons eloquently expressed by some of the other contributors over there.

I'd also point out that this conference was co-sponsored by USAID.  So our tax dollars are at work here.  So far no word from the Obama administration ...