Festival cancellation of conductor Lahav Shani is naked anti-Semitism

When a Belgian music festival disinvites an Israeli Jew because he, as an Israeli Jew, does not sufficiently distance himself from his country, there is only one word for it: anti-Semitism. The Flanders Festival in Ghent has canceled a planned concert by the Munich Philharmonic with its future chief conductor, Lahav Shani. The reason given: Shani, born in Tel Aviv, is also music director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

The organizers fear for "the peace and quiet of our festival," they wrote. They also stated that they have "no sufficient clarity" about Shani's stance on the "genocidal regime" in Israel. He has not sufficiently distanced himself.

This rejection is a scandal. Shani is not a representative of the Israeli government. Asking him to take a stand for or against his country of origin amounts to a test of his ideology, rightly rages Olaf Zimmermann, Managing Director of the German Cultural Council.

Organizers of a multicultural music festival can be trusted to distinguish between art and politics, rather than holding an innocent artist collectively responsible. The fact that Jews are apparently unwelcome at the Ghent Festival is not just an embarrassing slip-up – it is sheer Jew-hatred under the guise of criticism of Israel.

What distinguishes the case from Shani's Russian predecessor, Valery Gergiev, who was summarily dismissed in 2022, shortly after Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine began? Gergiev openly palled around with Putin, allowed himself to be decorated with medals and become a propagandist.

Shani, on the other hand, has repeatedly spoken out in favor of peace. His wife plays in Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, in which Israelis and Palestinians perform together. He stands for rapprochement and reconciliation. The organizers of the Flanders Festival in Belgium should be ashamed.