Jandali expressed a desire to move forward in the best interest of the community.

Both the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and
Syrian American composer and pianist Malek Jandali expressed a desire to move
on in the best interest of the Arab American community after a recent
controversy involving the cancellation of a planned performance at the ADC’s
Annual Convention in Washington, D.C.

Jandali’s expected performance at the ADC convention, which
ran from June 9-12, was canceled after what ADC officials termed a
“miscommunication” had taken place.

The song “Watani Ana (I Am My Homeland),” a
classical-style piece with a universal message of freedom and no specific
mentions of any particular country or culture, was played at the opening of the
convention gala after originally being part of the controversy surrounding the
situation.

Jandali said that he was originally asked to not play the
song and his agent responded in an e-mail that he did not want to accept that
proposal. After that, he said he was dis-invited. Speculation had been that the
song was not desirable due to internal community differences over the political
situation in Syria.

ADC Chairman Safa Rifka said that the organization had no
problems with the lyrics of the song, however.

“We did not want any political statements to be made
accompanying it to keep the focus of unity at the convention,” he said.

Rifka also said that Jandali was re-invited, maintaining
that there was a miscommunication about the ADC’s disapproval of the song.

Jandali said that he heard the claim was made but was not
aware of a re-invitation.

Imad Hamad, the regional director of ADC-Michigan, said that
there was lively debate by people with different viewpoints on the issue at the
conference as well as at panel discussions where analysts discussed political
issues including the Syrian revolution from multiple viewpoints.

“In the end this was a learning experience, regardless
of position and Mr. Jandali’s issues or Chairman Rifka’s issues, what comes out
of it is that the best interest of the ADC as an institution is bigger than any
individual and that this will be overcome by goodwill,” Hamad said.

Jandali also spoke about his intentions going into the
convention.

“I fully support the noble, true mission of the ADC,
which is why I was so excited to support their convention,” he said.

“I am a big supporter, the last thing on my mind was to
hurt any organization that has such a noble mission; let’s discuss how to make
it much better and much stronger.”

Rifka said the ADC will continue to focus on its mission as
well.

“The ADC has focused for over 31 years on protecting
the civil rights of Arab Americans and the track record speaks for itself and
we remain focused on our job,” he said, noting recent efforts to track
anti-Islam statements among campaigns of Republican candidates and to stop the
deportation of Libyan American students among others.