Architect for New York’s Javits Center under fire

American Jewish leaders welcomed the decision by British architect Richard Rogers to resign his membership in a professional organization that has called for the boycott of Israel’s construction industry. However New York politicians had questions for Lord Richard Rogers, in light of the state contract awarded him on September 29 to design a $1.7 billion project that would almost double the size of Manhattan’s Jacob Javits Convention Center.

Rogers, whose previous commissions have included the headquarters of Lloyd’s of London, the European Court of Human Rights, the Pompidou Center and the Millennium Dome, hosted the inaugural meeting of Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine (APJP) at his London offices on February 2.

The newly formed association of architects, planners and engineers denounced professional colleagues who worked on Israeli government projects in Judea and Samaria as “complicit in social, political and economic oppression,” and violating “their professional code of ethics.”

“Planning, architecture and other construction disciplines are being used to promote an apartheid system of environmental control,” APJP said. The group met three times in February at Rogers’s London offices.

On September 29, Rogers’s firm was named the lead architect in the redevelopment of the convention center.

State and city officials, led by the speaker of the NY State Assembly, Sheldon Silver, denounced Rodgers and the APJP, and noted that compliance with the Arab League boycott of Israel violated state and federal law. Silver, who had already urged both the Empire State Development Corp, which is overseeing the project, and NY Governor George Pataki to sever ties with Rogers, sent a letter to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Friday urging him to discontinue Rogers’ participation in the redevelopment of the East River waterfront.

“The message has to be clear: It’s not the American way to punish people for their national origin,” Silver said.

On February 28, Democrat Congressman Anthony Weiner of New York called for a new architect to lead the project.

Jewish leaders said they were appalled that a boycott supporter would direct a publicly funded construction project named in honor of the late Republican senator Jacob K. Javits, a strong supporter of Israel.

On Wednesday, Rogers released a statement affirming his “convictions on peace and justice” but saying, “In view of the published aims of [APJP]” and the “suggested boycott by some members, I am dissociating myself from this organization.”

Abraham H. Foxman, Anti-Defamation League national director, welcomed the statement but said it did not go far enough. David A. Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, noted, “Rogers only withdrew from the group after negative press reports, and he has said nothing about rejecting Israel boycotts in principle.”

Rogers responded on Friday saying, “I abhor boycotts of any kind – of Israel or any other place. It is not the way to achieve peace and I will not be a party to any group or movement that advocates a boycott.”

He continued, “I unequivocally renounce [APJP] and have withdrawn my relationship with them.
”I have never backed a boycott and I have personally never stated that I favor targeted activities,“ he said.

The second clarification eased some concerns in the Jewish community. The case is closed,” Foxman told The Jerusalem Post. “We move on,” he said.
However, Weiner said he considered Rogers’ public statements “too clever by half” and said he didn’t believe they indicated a true change of heart.
“He’s someone who is working on a very lucrative contract, and was caught being involved in an abhorrent organization,” Weiner said.

Kenneth Bandler, the American Jewish Committee’s director for public relations and communications, told the Post he welcomed the news. The APJP’s actions, the Church of England’s recent divestment vote, and London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s suspension did not necessarily signify a rise in anti-Semitism, he said, but the events had made us “more sensitive” to such activities.

Rogers’s concerns over continued participation in the Javits Center project are not over. The chairman of the Empire State Development Corp, Charles A. Gargano, released a statement Friday saying he had invited “Lord Rogers to come to New York next week, to meet with me to discuss new issues raised recently regarding his previous relationship with [APJP].” The meeting would give New York an “opportunity to gain a better understanding of his position on these matters,” Gargano said.