Flanders Festival Ghent says it made decision over lack of ‘clarity’ about incoming conductor Lahav Shani’s views.

Flanders Festival Ghent says it made decision over lack of ‘clarity’ about incoming conductor Lahav Shani’s views.

While Shani had spoken in favour of “peace and reconciliation” in the past, his attitude towards the “genocidal regime in Tel Aviv” was unclear given his role as the chief conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the festival organisers said.

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldEnglish
    32180·
    3 months ago

    It seems that every Jewish person is now expected to pass an arbitrary moral purity test in order to participate in polite society.

      • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldEnglish
        629·
        3 months ago

        He is literally Jewish.

        I have never heard of this type of moral panic over a Palestinian Israeli, or a Druze Israeli for example. It doesn’t seem to be about just citizenship.

        • Maeve@kbin.earth
          192·
          3 months ago

          I have never heard of this type of moral panic over a Palestinian Israeli,

          Uh huh

        • paultimate14@lemmy.worldEnglish
          253·
          3 months ago

          Source? The article only confirms that he is Israeli, doesn’t mention his religion at all. Because it’s not fucking relevant.

          Russian citizens who refused to condemning the Ukraine invasion have faced similar consequence. There’s plenty of precedent internationally for these sorts of decisions. The only difference here is that Israel has been purposefully supplying propaganda for decades to conflate antizionism with antisemitism.

          • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldEnglish
            313·
            3 months ago

            Yes, he is Jewish. That is his ethnicity. Feel free to look it up.

            Where in the article does it say that he refused to condemn anything? It actually says that he has made statements in favor of peace and reconciliation.

            Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said the cancellation seemed “excessive. …We must not confuse the Jewish community and Israelis with Netanyahu’s policies,”

            The German Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer criticized the move as a “disgrace for Europe. …Under the guise of supposed criticism of Israel, a cultural boycott is being carried out here,” he said in a statement.

            • kurwa@lemmy.worldEnglish
              62·
              3 months ago

              What’s happening in Gaza is Israeli policy, the majority of them support it.

        • Artisian@lemmy.worldEnglish
          13·
          3 months ago

          Thought I would put a little work into your question; I checked a random musician from this list and looked for recent news. They’ve literally been doing charity shows to get support for gaza.

          It seems like some groups of people in israel feel there is an emergency that cannot be ignored; and some who do not.

    • lennybird@lemmy.worldEnglish
      562·
      3 months ago

      Doesn’t seem that difficult of a test to pass.

      Denouncing genocide is pretty easy to do.

      Put another way: if he did denounce it, would he still be leading the Israeli orchestra? Doubtful.

    • Allonzee@lemmy.worldEnglish
      212·
      3 months ago

      Why would non Israeli Jews have to denounce the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians?

      The conductor was Israeli.

    • ms.lane@lemmy.worldEnglish
      421·
      3 months ago

      Soon they’ll have to wear special armbands and the idiots captured by Iranian propaganda still won’t pull their heads out of their asses.

    • zrst@lemmy.cif.suEnglish
      353·
      3 months ago

      Well, considering Israelis aren’t going to receive any justice otherwise, social justice is the next best option.

      They only have themselves to blame.

      • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldEnglish
        419·
        3 months ago

        What a disgusting statement, when someone who has spoken up for peace and reconciliation is banned from a European country based on the city where he was born and his ethnicity. It wouldn’t be right for someone from China, it wouldn’t be right for someone from Syria, it wouldn’t be right in ANY circumstance.

          • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldEnglish
            39·
            3 months ago

            Yes, actually that’s fair. A German Philharmonic was canceled from a Belgian festival simply because the conductor is Israeli.

            Based on the comments and vote, it seems that most people here think that is justified and appropriate.

        • unconsequential@slrpnk.netEnglish
          4·
          3 months ago

          You sound like the type who supported Trump when he said, “there’s good people on both sides” if you actually think that limp two-sided non-statement is worth a damn. It’s laughable.

        • Mrkawfee@lemmy.worldEnglish
          133·
          3 months ago

          Liberal Zionists are no different to any other Zionist, they are just better at dressing up apartheid and genocide in palatable, rhetorically pleasing language for Western audiences. Unless Israelis renounce Zionism and call for full equality of Palestinians they are only there as ambassadors to culture wash the crimes of their colony.

    • solo@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      926·
      3 months ago

      I see things differently. Condemning genocide is not an arbitrary test related moral purity.

      And like Jewish Voice for Peace say:

      Never Again For Anyone

      as well as

      Not in our name

      • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldEnglish
        434·
        3 months ago

        You are missing the point. When did he say that he doesn’t condemn genocide?

      • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        2019·
        3 months ago

        I remember liberals being super angry about conservatives requiring all Muslims to “condemn terrorism.”

        • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.worldEnglish
          134·
          3 months ago

          And I remember Iranians and Chinese people being refused entry to places because of things their governments did

          • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldEnglish
            210·
            3 months ago

            Please share because I’d like to learn. I can’t think of a single Chinese or Iranian artist who was banned from a performance or display in a European country.

        • joostjakob@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          3 months ago

          We’re talking about an Israeli, not a Jew. One who has a prominent role in the cultural life of that country. As a “liberal”, I would not have had an issue with questions being asked if some high profile Saudis were invited to a festival in October 2001.

        • mrdown@lemmy.worldEnglish
          191·
          3 months ago

          Did any western country apologized for their colonial past aka terrorism

    • BlackRoseAmongThorns@slrpnk.netEnglish
      372·
      3 months ago

      Every Israeli person maybe, not every Jewish person, they don’t all live in one small part of the world, גדליה.

        • BlackRoseAmongThorns@slrpnk.netEnglish
          5·
          3 months ago

          i said maybe, not every Israeli is responsible for their fascist state, but shit, a lot of them are, even the liberals who always were just fascists and now have no problem with the genocide in Gaza.

          I would know, i have to interact with them every day.

          I never had any power or representation though, and was always against all of this even if I’m not really active, always concerned with survival and escape, so i don’t think a person like myself is responsible, I’m not gonna point a finger at any powerless person that has to look at this shit from the inside.

          So yeah, maybe, it depends.

        • Tryenjer@lemmy.worldEnglish
          9·
          3 months ago

          Even the Russians are held accountable for their government and they don’t have fair elections.

        • x00z@lemmy.worldEnglish
          155·
          3 months ago

          I have talked with a handful of Israelis and all of them are heartless racists that support the genocide.

          I think the good Israelis are only a few percent.

          • BlackRoseAmongThorns@slrpnk.netEnglish
            7·
            3 months ago

            Sadly true, as an Israeli, i don’t know many any others besides my partner that see the genocide for what it is, the situation feels very hopeless

            • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              3 months ago

              My ex-girlfriend was American and half-Jewish (on her father’s side), thoroughly non-religious and very liberal. But after high school she spent a summer in Israel on kibbutz and somehow it made her completely insane on the subject of the Palestinians. She talked about how they needed to be exterminated and that Israel was completely right in what they were doing (and this was the '90s). If I tried to argue with her she insisted that I couldn’t understand since I’d never been to Israel. It was like talking to someone possessed by a demon.

              • BlackRoseAmongThorns@slrpnk.netEnglish
                21·
                3 months ago

                I’m sorry you had to go through something like that, i can only say I’m vaguely familiar with the feeling of seeing this from someone as close as a significant other.

                Hope you’ll find someone new you’ll see eye to eye with.