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Arab-American convention claims event was canceled by hotel over security concerns

Arab America Empowerment Summit was originally scheduled Nov. 3-4

Warren David from the Arab America Foundation (Tony Talcott, Copyright 2023 by WKMG ClickOrlando - All rights reserved.)

ORLANDO, Fla. – An Arab-American group says an Orlando resort canceled its convention due to security concerns.

The “Arab America Empowerment Summit” was scheduled to happen Friday and Saturday at the Doubletree Hilton Hotel at SeaWorld.

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“The cancellation followed claims that the hotel received calls in recent days with: ‘questions about the event taking place at the Hotel next weekend,’” Arab America’s website reads. “The calls reference the event being in different media channels and ‘expressed surprise that Hilton would host such an event at this time.’”

Warren David from the Arab America Foundation called the last-minute cancelation “discriminatory.”

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“We were really all set to go forward. We had 250 people registered coming from 20 different states — Arab-Americans from all over the country,” David said. “We had 30 speakers, 26 sponsors, so many people coming, we were really devastated. It was so disappointing that we couldn’t be able to hold our event.”

This comes as the Israeli-Palestine War continues to rage overseas.

“I’ve been an activist in the Arab-American community for about 40 years,” David said. “And I don’t think I’ve ever seen it this bad. Even 9/11, I think it’s even worse (now), and there is a lot of discrimination, denigrating rhetoric, especially political rhetoric.”

The hotel is independently owned and operated, meaning that it isn’t run by Hilton. News 6 reached out to hotel management for comment and is awaiting a response.

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About the Author

Phil Landeros joined WKMG-TV as an executive producer in March 2021.

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