A South Florida Marriott Hotel canceled a Muslim group’s conference at the last minute after a protest group claimed the coalition was promoting Hamas, terrorism and antisemitism. The South Florida Muslim Federation, a coalition of about 30 mosques and Islamic groups, said Friday that it was told by the Marriott Coral Springs Hotel and Convention Center that its conference was being canceled because of security concerns after it received 100 calls demanding it bars the group. This weekend’s second annual conference was expected to draw more than a thousand people. Hotels in Arizona and Virginia have also canceled Muslim conferences since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in Israel, which sparked Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip and the ongoing war. Florida has also barred a pro-Palestinian student group from public universities. Marriott’s decision ”came out of nowhere and was a shock to the entire South Florida Muslim community,” federation President Samir Kakli said. He said numerous Muslim groups and families have held large conferences, weddings and other events at the Coral Springs Marriott without incident. Kakli said that even before Marriott raised security concerns, his group hired Coral Springs police officers and private guards for protection. He said he told Marriott that the federation would hire more, but was rebuffed. The hotel is just west of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and Kakli said hotel management raised the specter of the shooting at the Parkland campus that killed 17 six years ago. “They said it just takes one person like what happened in Parkland,” Kakli said. He said the group is looking to have the conference soon at an alternate venue.
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