Although not the same, but related, I filed a complaint against a particular vendor of ICANN at the end of 2023 for its clear antisemitic statements asking ICANN to terminate its relationship with that vendor. (NOTE: ICANN mistakenly elevated that issue to deal with that vendor's participation in ICANN - which was not part of my complaint and that resulted in an escalation of the issue which is still not resolved today - they are still a vendor)

As part of my discussions with ICANN, I expressed my disappointment in the selection of Oman as a meeting location because of their failure to recognize Israel as a sovereign nation and that both the vendor issue and the location was not sending a message to the Jewish participants of ICANN that they are welcome nor are they protected by ICANN's anti-harassment policy. After all, if an ICANN vendor can openly state that he wished "Hitler should have finished the job" and killed all the Jews and it chooses to meet at a location which refuses to acknowledge the existence of Jewish people, then what is the use of having a code of conduct and anti-harassment policy. As you can imagine, I am not happy with this outcome

Long story short, on the selection of Oman, ICANN's view is that they cannot take politics into consideration when selecting a venue. Their only considerations are logistics and safety. If the location is safe, and they can handle the ICANN meeting requirements, that is all that is considered. Their political, religious or social views and policies are not taken into consideration. According to ICANN's security assessment, which is fairly exhaustive, Oman is safe and can handle us.

hi,

I keep mentioning it as a problem, but no one really cares.

It is one of those issues that ICANN does not worry about.

Decided i had become a broken record speaking of an irrelevant issue.

avri

On 2025-01-14 14:13, Glenn McKnight via NA-Discuss wrote:

Hi

. It's interesting that ICANN was actively involved in participating at the recent IGF 2024 in Saudi Arabia and I noticed that ICANN's Annual 2025 meeting will be held in Oman.

Is this a current policy trend by ICANN.?

Anyone monitoring the human rights issues in these countries

See reports

https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/middle-east/oman/

https://www.hrw.org/middle-east/n-africa/oman

https://freedomhouse.org/country/oman/freedom-world/2023

Anyone interested in this issue?

Glenn McKnight, MA

Virtual School of Internet Governance
Chief Information Officer
www.virtualsig.org

YOUR SOURCE FOR INTERNET GOVERNANCE EDUCATION

Mobile 437-237-4655

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