Rep. Tlaib’s Keynote Canceled: How a Houston Hotel Sparked a Political Firestorm

Hilton Houston Post Oak by the Galleria has backed out of hosting the “Seize the Moment US Campaign for Palestinian Rights National Conference” planned for October 27 – 29, which was set to be keynoted by Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian American congresswoman and member of ‘the squad’ known for her opposition to Israel.

There was public pressure for the hotel not to host the event which was intended to “demand to end U.S. military funding to Israel once and for all.”

The hotel cited security concerns in making its decision,

Hilton Houston Post Oak by the Galleria serves as a place of public accommodation and does not endorse the positions of third-party groups or organizations. The safety and security of our Team Members and guests is our top priority. Given escalating security concerns in the current environment, the hotel has determined that it cannot serve as the venue for this event because of the potential risks to our Team Members and guests. Our priority is and will remain the safety and security of everyone we welcome at our hotel.

The Governor of Texas endorsed the decision:

I wish that he hadn’t gotten involved! A private business should be able to make this decision for reputational and risk reasons, however the property describes itself as a ‘public accommodation.’ While the first amendment protects against government limitations on expression, the principle is that protecting expression is only meaningful when those protections apply to the expression that we loathe, like this endorsement of Hamas killing Israeli children and abducting civilians:

Late Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson stood strongly that hotels shouldn’t make determinations about which points of view are expressed in their conference rooms, including for viewpoints that leaders of chains personally loathed.

I would have much preferred to see the group offered the opportunity to fund sufficient security if, in the view of the hotel, hosting the conference would pose risks to employees, guests, or to its facilities.

(HT: @ho94849410)

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. Don’t know anything about that crazy talking guy in the Twitter video except what you put up with the Twitter video, but he did say in that video that he abhorred violence and abhorred the targeting of civilians.

  2. @Gary – the left, Antifa and others have cancelled all kinds of speakers they disagree with either by threatening violence, blocking access or disrupting the speeches. Shocking the “tolerant left” are so worried about speech they disagree with and that others may actually learn from. Therefore, ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with those that stand with Israel (which is vast majority across the political spectrum) demanding this group (who, as you noted, advocated for US to end funding to Israel) not be in this location. I’m also for deporting all the students demonstrating in support of Hamas as a number of Congressmen have proposed. America and our friends first

  3. Governors getting involved in company decisions about how companies do or don’t do business with those who don’t meet a governor’s political litmus tests seems to be a very politically in-thing nowadays with Republicans. What they don’t seem to appreciate is how all this dog whistle demonization of “brown” people and Muslims opens the floodgates for more bigotry and endangers the safety of our fellow Americans who happen to be perceived to be Arab or Muslim. A lot of hotel/motel owners in the US are Indian — albeit primarily Hindu — and it’s probably just a matter of time until we see this kind of anti-Palestinian/anti-Arab/anti-Muslim dog whistling lead to violence at a hotel owned and operated by people who are perceived to be the demonized “other” whether they are or are not. Some such demonization has already lead to violence this month in the US, a bunch of it aimed at kids at places where all kids should be equally safe but sadly are not when prejudice is unleashed as it is by those who should know better but have objectives that think the end justifies the means.

  4. Countries have allies and cooperate when their interests align or when they believe the narrative that the interests align (whether true or not). Then there is all the buddy buddy act when really it’s all interest and pressure group driven as Kissinger recently reminded the public after the Hamas atrocities this month in Israel. Other countries shouldn’t be counted as friends or count on friends; they should count on shared interests and on lobbying to twist the narrative about interests but not more than that and on their own domestic capabilities.

  5. Let them speak. I want to know who they are and what they think and to create a record of it.

    Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

  6. Frequent Flyin’ Fool,

    What if someone films you in attendance and then decides to dox you on that basis regardless of what your personal opinion really is and tries to aim at you on the basis of presence or material taken out of context?

    Just curious if what is good for the goose is good for the gander too in your opinion. I am from the school that it’s better to know what loathsome ideas and peoples are out there than to have that go unnoticed and unchallenged.

    A constant barrage of hate and fear mongering leads people to commit acts of disgusting violence. And anti-Arab, anti-Muslim hate is dangerous as the long and ugly history of antisemitism has shown what comes from constant barrages of hate and fear-mongering aimed at marginalizing and dehumanizing minorities.

  7. AndyS, still a fan of the ideology of Rabin’s Israeli assassin and at least as committed as ever to that assassin’s traitorous ideology?

    With friends like Netanyahu and his fans, who needs enemies.

  8. This is another of countless examples of politicians doing whatever they want and not representing their constituents. I see this a lot even on the city council level. How can districts have such diverse opinions? More likely, it’s the politician’s own view.

  9. Is it possible to stand with the Israelis against the violence inflicted against them by scumbag Hamas and associated terrorists and their monstrous objective of destroying Israel, and at the same time stand with Palestinians against the violence inflicted against them by scumbag Israeli politicians that are leveraging the world’s sympathies to abandon restraint and it’s ridiculously advantaged military might to inflict monstrous harm on defenseless civilians? I hope so.

  10. @GUWonder
    Its justified. They are killers and criminals.
    Their entire history is based around war and conquering.

    They even just bombed their own people and hospital.

  11. @GUWonder

    There you go again playing the race card victim.
    Its not surprising you use that to make excuses for rapists and baby killers.

    BLM also supports Hamas and people are seeing their lies now. BLM was started based on lies and never told the truth just like hamas.

  12. When you see how demented the radical left has become it’s not surprising the depth of depravity they have come to – praising (not just supporting – praising) monsters as “freedom fighters”.
    Their whole notion of “freedom” is warped. But I expect nothing from these anything-but-progressive progressives that have gotten to a point in history when they can’t even define what is a man or a woman, and they think that the rest of the world is crazy, not them.

  13. Trump supporters have a crazy imagination. And as their respect for the facts isn’t a strong point of that crowd, we get them spewing rants about “radical left Biden Administration” even as there is nothing radical about the Biden Admin except in the mind of the radical Trump supporters with their never ending need for feeding and being fed anger; fear and hatred no matter where it leads. January 6, 2021, anyone? Trump and his biggest fans seemed to find their raid on the US Capitol exhilarating.

  14. @GUWonder said “Governors getting involved in company decisions…”

    The post clearly states that the Governor of Texas “endorsed” the decision. He didn’t make them, nor did he call on them to cancel this scum gathering.

    Problems with reading comprehension?

  15. Shame on Hilton. Tlaib is a hero for standing up for Palestinian rights. How is Israel NOT an apartheid state? South Africans who suffered under that apartheid certainly agree Israel is practicing apartheid. Palestinians think so. Even some Israeli politicians say so. What’s the news here? That a major corporation backed by a governmental leader are shutting down the first amendment in Texas citing “security” concerns. What, far right fascists were going to threaten Hilton or the event? Cowards.

  16. Gennady,

    I understand if you are still not fully versed in the nuances of English, but let me help: endorsing is a form of getting involved. And that is true even deep in the heart of Texas.

  17. @Frank

    She’s a terrorist apologist and antisemite. Anyone protesting that “meeting” would be patriots. There are no such thing as “palesitians”. Israel is defending itself, it nation and way of life from a bunch of low iq savages.

  18. Recognized US citizens cannot be legally deported from the US. Those US citizens who call for the deportation of recognized US citizens — and both of the above-named US Congresswomen are US citizens — betray the US Constitution with their calls for the deportation of US citizens from the US.

    Hilton has a right to host whomever it wants and reject whom it wants to reject within the law, but Hilton’s position on this matter is cowardly. But what can be expected of hotels. Back when some Israeli cabinet ministers were at some US hotels, sometimes they would get their way with hotel staffing decisions even when the criteria being applied while they were in residence was blatantly racist. Carting out the security excuse has a long and ugly history at hotels too.

  19. @ Frank
    Appartied means not equal under the law. In Appartied South Africa non whites did not have the same legal rights. Israel is a democracy with equal rights under the law within Israel (there are tw exceptions- non Jews may but are not required to serve in the military and the law of return – which many countries have similar laws of return). Now the Arab states they are in fact apartheid states where for example in the Palestinian Authority law selling land to a Jew is punishable by death. Under Islamic law woman’s testimony is half that of a man etc… now if you are talking about the occupied portions of the West Bank it is a military controlled area (area C) which does impact negatively the Palestinian population but that is only because the peace process was reversed in 2000 by Arafat and there was a violent uprising (infatada) in 2002 Israel basically repccupied the West Bank in response temporarily and so the PA does not officially advocate violence against Israel anymore. This is for others as Frank’s world view is not based on facts or history.

  20. Andys,

    Sadly, the Hamas terrorists were not so stupid as to be unable to cause as much murderous mayhem as they did while penetrating through Israel’s “unequaled”, “superior” defenses along the Gaza-Israel border. Perhaps there is superiority to be held in not thinking the enemy to be inferior primates.

    Perhaps countries that have been buying Israel’s border security services should re-evaluate and ask for a refund for the equipment and other services paid.

  21. Common Sense,

    Unlike you, I have no terrorist friends. I consider terrorists to be terrorists whether they are a state actor or not, whether the people they killed look more like the person in my mirrors or not, whether they pony up excuses for killing civilians or not.

    I have been to plenty of hot spots in my time and know up close and personally what terrorists are capable of doing.

  22. Any Qatar Airlines lounge would be more appropriate for supporters and fundraisers of Jihadis and Islamo Facists.

  23. @Guwonder I remember you from BestFares/Flyertalk with Randy days. I have been reading your travel posts with a lot of respect. Looks like you might need some additional education on this extremely controversial topic. For the record, I think anti-Israel conferences (as in Houston or CAIR conf in DC) should go on and be the subject the venues’ decision NOT the government. Remember Nazi rally in 1974 in Skokie. The only people who defended this rally were Holocaust survivors from Germany because they knew the value of freedom and free speech.

    The only apartheid state to-date is SA. Arabs in Israel serve in Knesset, they are allowed to own the land, conduct their business and be equal to any other Israeli citizen.
    How many Jews do you know that serve in the Palestinian parliament or for that matter in any Arab country. Look at 1948 Exodus, where Jewish families were thrown out from their respective countries: Iraq, morocco, so on. This is in case you decide to compare Naqba to Exodus.
    The jews who left in these middle eastern countries are treated as pariahs. Before labeling/libeling Israel as “apartheid” state, please examine the neighboring countries.

    Can you call any Arab country that is democratic in the Western Judeo-Christian sense?
    Israel is the only partnering country that is democratic in the western sense. Of course, Israel makes mistakes as any democracy would do. Collective West should support negotiations for peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs. Critiquing Israel and NOT pushing Arabs to negotiate does only one thing only – put fuel into this existential fire and lead this to demise of Israel first and bringing Dash/ISIS/Hamas/Ayatollah power in the Middle East first and then spreading Jihad to the West

    There is a discourse in the Israeli society to get better. There is no discourse in Gaza. In 2007 when Hamas took power, they killed all Fatah leaders. There is NO discourse in Iran, they kill women for simply walking on the streets without hijab. People who apply any libels/labels to Israel, should look at the neighboring countries first.

    Last week, “palestinian” Nas with multi-million following announced that he sees himself as Israeli Arab going forward. Palestinian arabs are simply Arabs who happened to be born in this territory. Golda Meir was a Palestinian too. Palestinian Arabs speak Arabic language very similar to Arabic spoken by their neighbors in Israel/Jordan/Lebanon. There is no Palestinian Allah, it is the same Allah. There is no Palestinian Food, it is Middle-Eastern. If you remember from the history, Arabs born in the Palestine started the wars in Jordan (black september), Lebanon, Egypt, so on. How many terrorist acts they have committed in the name of having Palestine from the river to the sea which means annihilating Israeli and Israel state.
    Uneducated western people don’t understand in the East, if people of certain identity don’t have power or strong state (Wegurs in China (1mln+ killed), Kurds, Rohinja, etc), they cease to exist.

    Lets just admit that Hamas is ISIS/Nazi. They don’t deserve to live.

    If we do apply your logic (GUWONDER) then US should have just attacked Tokyo Harbor and wait for Japanese to get stronger and come back.

    @GUWONDER you know how many german kids were killed in Dresden bombings considering the only purpose for these blanket bombings was to instill fear into the german civilians.

    Israel and Arabs have to negotiate peace. For right now, I am very sorry about kids in Gaza but Hamas has to be squashed or our kids are next. Please learn some context, when Hamas or Hezbollah or FATAH negotiate with Israeli (Oslo, Dayton, etc) they use word “hudna” – truce not “salam” – peace. Arabs don’t value these agreements and easily break them when convenient.

    But again Tlalib, CAIR or any other conf should be held so people can hear what they have to say. We are free society after all

  24. @Frank
    Learn what the first amendment is.
    A nongovernmental actor blocking you may be an assault on ‘free speech’ but is not a first amendment issue.

  25. These savages and anyone who supports them and their terroristic acts need to “put their big mouths where their money is” and find some rats’ nest is the nearest sewar at which to spew their venom. KUDOS to Hilton for standing up to this horde!! Thier absence will make my stays much more enjoyable.

  26. Chris@Oak,

    With regard to:

    “Any Qatar Airlines lounge would be more appropriate for supporters and fundraisers of Jihadis and Islamo Facists.”

    You should consider the fact that it was Netanyahu who wanted and approved Qatar’s funding of Hamas for most of this year too. Netanyahu has been the strategic nincompoop on that one, thinking that Hamas would moderate with money.

    As with Hamas, so with Netanyahu’s terrorist-supporting national security advisor Itamar Son of Gvir: money and power doesn’t moderate terrorists; it fuels them as long as they stick to their hateful, dehumanizing ideologies..

  27. A government actor in the US encouraging a company to silence legally-permissible speech/expression/assembly may be deemed problematic for those who care about First Amendment rights. Think about all those Trump supporters who got all stirred up when the Feds were encouraging big tech companies to go after what was deemed by some/many (but not by all) to be disinformation about the pandemic, Covid vaccines, the 2020 election and so on. Government actions like this enforcement can have a chilling effect on persons and companies and thereby undermine First Amendment rights. Freedom of speech/expression/assembly is not freedom from all societal consequences for such exercise of freedoms from government regulation, but state actors should tread carefully or it ends up being an elimination of freedom via corporate agent working for or on behalf of the state as the state wants it.

  28. @GUWonder said “endorsing is a form of getting involved”
    Well, it seems you skipped the middle school, when they explained the meaning of “endorse”.
    Let me educate you, since you obviously can’t do it yourself:

    “to endorse – to declare one’s public approval or support of.”

    Let me go slowly so you can keep up: Gov. of TX endorsed, e.g. approved and supported, Hilton’s decision to cancel event with that anti-Semitic moron Tlaib. Gov. Abbott didn’t ask private corp. to do it, didn’t command it to do it, and didn’t get involved in their decision. But he approved of it.

    Next time, to avoid publicly embarrassing yourself, check the dictionary.

  29. @GoldPremier – excellent explanation and historical perspective.

    Unfortunately, it’s probably waisted on @GUWonder, who’s unable to comprehend the meaning of simple English words, like “apartheid”, or “endorse”. The liberal crap in his head impacted his reading comprehension (and other faculties, I’m sure, too).

  30. “Jake “ nice analogy. I agree with you completely. One can condemn Hamas wholeheartedly for their recent attack while at the same time condemning the way Israel has conducted their counter attack targeting both civilians and military targets. And according to many news outlets, NPOs such as Doctors Without Borders it was an Israeli air strike which damaged the hospital and led to casualties.

    “GU Wonder”. Is it possible for you to reply to any post without bringing up our former POTUS? I am an independent who voted initially for DT but who does not always agree with his positions. Any counter arguments you make no matter how relevant are weakened by your infatuation with DT.

  31. The governor did NOT endorse the decision, he agreed with it. The governor has a right to say whatever he wants in regards to the majority opinion of the constituents that he represents. Let’s get our facts straight.

  32. The Texas Governor endorsed the Hilton shut down of the event.

    Our esteemed blogger himself also characterized this as the governor’s endorsement of the Hilton hotel’s action.

  33. @CMorgan – I’m not sure I follow your endorse vs agree distinction. As I wrote, I wish he’d have stayed out of it. There’s a fine line here, he may have a legal right to speak in this regard but also must not have a thumb on the scale for certain views over others when it comes to deploying state resources etc.

  34. CMorgan,

    Missouri v Biden. That case came straight from Trump supporters’ concerns about the ability of government to have a chilling effect by deputing the messaging control to non-governmental actors so as to encourage/discourage speech/expression/assembly in line with the government.

  35. October 18, 2023 / JNS)
    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott praised the decision to cancel the “Seize the Moment: US Campaign for Palestinian Rights National Conference” scheduled from Oct. 27 to Oct. 29 at a Hilton in Houston.

    “Hilton Hotels in Houston was correct to pull the plug on the US Campaign for Palestine Rights event hosted by Hamas supporters,” Abbott, a Republican, wrote on social media. “Texas has no room for hate & antisemitism like that supported by Hamas. No location in Texas should host or sponsor USCPR.”

    Speakers for the event included keynote Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.); political activist Linda Sarsour; Diala Shamas, a lawyer at the leftist Center for Constitutional Rights; and Marc Lamont Hill, the former CNN commentator fired after advocating for the elimination of Israel.

    Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the BDS movement who has declared the elimination of Israel as his goal, was also scheduled to address attendees via video.

  36. GU Wonder: The problem with your thinking is that you assume ALL Trump voters support everything he does or say. Many of us don’t, but voted for him as the alternative was unacceptable!

  37. Looks like people on the left and the right side of political spectrum fail to understand that
    J6, Trump, Biden, Bibi, AOC, Tlaib just people with their beliefs and intentions.

    The problem here will the Collective Judeo-Christian West succumb to the radical Islam and radical communism. It appears that people with the “left” convictions tend to fall into the “underdog trap” where they (left) are paying more attention to IDF atrocities in Gaza provoked by barbaric hamas/isis/hezballah/aytollahs (low case is intentional) than to what China does to wegurs, or Myanmar to Rohinja, or Iran to their own citizens, Assad to syrians, etc
    BTW, as of today we might say that the collective progressive alt-left fringe group committed somewhat similar to J6 by demonstrating inside the Capitol already condemned by politicians on both side of the political spectrum. My point is let’s get rid of our myopic US-biased views and look at this Middle East tragedy as the precursor of civilization battle.

    If we continue trying to look of what has been going on in the Middle East through our pink glasses and keep supporting extremists on both sides, then eventually the islamic radicals or communist radicals (China and their side-kicks: russia and north korea) would prevail.

    Unfortunately I am impacted by both radical groups: communists and islamists. As for me, this is not a simple debate who is more anti-american: AOC or DeSantis. they are just small actors in the larger game.

    We are all here because of one passion to travel. I am not trying to change anyone’s mind only to highlight the fact that in this war of radical islam against Collective US, we need to stand united against Radicals (be it Iran or China)

    Please keep in mind that this conflict was artificially heated up by Soviet counter-intelligence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Sakharovsky when several Arab countries lost 2 wars (1967 and 1973) that they started against Israel. Hence our enemies in this case Soviet Union decided to play dirty.

    The current war is not between poorly armed Gazan teenagers who are unfortunately are dying right now and the only democracy in the Middle East BUT the entire Arab world, China and Russia against Israel. I totally disagree with the current ultra-right Israeli government and their approaches. But Smotrich and Bibi did not do 10/7 massacre. and who else do we partner with, rhetorical question. There is no more democratic transparent country than Israel in this corner.

    10/7 massacre took place on putin birthday and the anniversary of the YK war. Must be a pure coincidence……

    We have not seen worse yet in this war. Instead of uniting against radicals from the middle east and iran and russia and china we keep squabbling about tlaib conf or $ for Ukraine or now support for Israel. Jews are needed in this world as a canary because the jews perish than the world lost again to Nazi. Hamas/Iran aytollah/Hezbollah = ISIS = Nazi. We have to unite and fight back so we can go back to our passion i.e. travel and points. Peace/Salam/Shalom

  38. to give @GUWONDER a point of reference, what would you say if you hear from say BBC that: “based on some reports, in the last couple of days approximately several million people probably of eastern european jewish descent have perished in series of incidents taking place in the german occupation zone. Germany and its satellites vehemently deny these false accusations and blame these casualties on US/UK. In turn, US/UK call it a lie and blame it on Nazi regime. BBC journalists are NOT able to verify the facts as the events unfold so rapidly and cant confirm the above. In several countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia there were demonstrations to support german civilians that are suffering in this war”.

    Will this hopefully mythical scenario change your unequivocal support of Hamas/Iran/etc?

  39. I am in academia, where the entire force of the institution (many public) has been used to silence, prevent, or “cancel” all sorts of conservative and Christian speakers for decades. Why is it suddenly a concern now?

  40. GoldPremier,

    Your comments here lose credibility with your false claim about me. Either you’re dishonest or delusional when you attempt to link me to any support of rogue actors, be those rogue actors terrorists, their state sponsors or state actors who are terrorizing people and green lighting violence against the disempowered/disenfranchised/demonized.

    If you haven’t noticed, you should: Israeli security forces in the West Bank this month have been behaving like the Gujarati/Indian police under Modi when he green-lighted pogroms/communal violence against minorities in India and had the security forces let the angry mob get their way with attacking the civilian “other”.

  41. @GUWONDER, this is NOT an attack against you. My point is that we (collective West) are so quickly to equate ultra-right Israeli government to Hamas. I am opposed to your position where you call all the stakeholders in this conflict === “rogue actors” thereby equating Bibi & Smotrich & settlers to Hamas and thereby whitewashing hamas/hizballah atrocities. Your position as the person who has some knowledge and high intelligence is even more dangerous.
    Your point truly endangers us , the readers of this blog , because you are aware of the countless examples where rogue actors on the palestinian side are more often than not have been endadgering innocent people: muslims or infidels just because they don’t care.

    I don’t support current government of Israel. I am aware of Bibi and his cronies facilitating hamas creation as a counterbalance to Fatah terrorists. In the current war against the radical islam, one can’t stay above the fray and just say that nobody is perfect. Israeli right-wing crazy settler-biased government has 0 responsibility for 10/7, there are no facts to prove that israeli security forces burn kids, take hostages, kill and rape pregnant women.

    One of the hamas masterminds was operated on malignant brain cancer that saved his life.

    You and I are talking at the diff level. My point is this is the pure evil (hamas NOT all arabs and NOT all palestinians).
    If we don’t take the sides or say that the both sides are EQUALLY wrong than we take the side of the evil. I want to be wrong. I want to sit in a chair with a cup of tea and be critical of all extremes (kahane or hutu, pinochet or castro)

    what you don’t understand that modi militia is not planning to come to us or europe and create caliphate. Hamas is. In some sense they are here already: 9/11, 2 people killed in Brussels, attacks in London, Berlin.

    so yes, ideally Bibi’s militant government is wrong. but if they don’t stop hamas there, they will come here.

    btw, i still support the right for tlaib et al to have a conference. Because only having this discourse we can have a strong free society

  42. Glad this story made it publicly so that i make sure in future I do not book myself or any of my company’s staff on company dime at this hotel.
    Blacklisting Hilton Houston Post oak.

  43. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/worldwide-caution.html

    USS Bataan intercepted several missiles sent by “freedom fighters” to support Palestinian cause.
    Unfortunately I foresee the situation will get much much worse before it gets better.

    Hence in the face of war with radical islam, we (Republicans and Democrats, trump and biden supporters, muslims and Christians, etc) should stand united.

    We will argue among ourselves when this hopefully temporary threat will stop or subside.

    I see a gross underestimation of the threat from both sides of the political spectrum. We are getting close to the Carribean crisis level.
    The world needs to rise up and stand United against radicals in this case: Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemeni terrorists, Russian fascists, Chinese communists.
    Western world is encouraging all of them by heeding to their demands and raising the stakes for the next time.
    Hopefully there will be the next time.

    Peace/ Salam

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