A multi faith conference was planned at the Palais d'Egmont in Brussels instead of its original planned location in Morocco because of the tense political situation and the risk of an attack against the religious leaders who advocate religious understanding and cooperation between Judaism and Islam. The original venue was Ifrane in Morocco.
Christian Dupont, representing the Belgian government, said Belgium is privileged to host such a conference because it has a very sizeable Muslim population, predominantly of North African origin and also a Jewish community of some 40,000 people, many of whom are also originally from Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.
