2010/8/11 Yaroslav M. Blanter putevod@mccme.ru:
I suggest we stop this immediately and DO NOT discuss whether Wikimania-2010 should be relocated
Since the decision was made many months ago, it's probably too late for relocation anyway. The Haifa organizers have probably also entered into all sorts of commitments already once they learned their bid won. Any and all criticism for hosting Wikimania in a country with such a hostile immigration service and bad reputation in a number of nearby countries should befall the jury, IMO. It's perfectly possible they were aware of this but thought it was outweighed by other factors; I wasn't on the jury so I don't know the rationale for this decision.
For the record, from what I've seen so far I have high expectations for Wikimania 2011, and the issues mentioned in this thread plus the climate aside, I'm sure it's gonna be awesome.
Roan Kattouw (Catrope)