Op-ed: Famed musician bashes Israel but says nothing in face of anti-Israeli violence hate
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4065676,00.htmlBarenboim’s performances of Beethoven and Mozart can’t be an excuse for his political irresponsibility. For global public opinion he is an icon of tolerance and he must be judged by his actions. Barenboim refused to take part in Israel’s 60th anniversary festivities and in 2005, while signing a book that he had written with late anti -Israel activist Edward Said, he refused to be interviewed by a reporter for Israel’s Army radio simply because she was wearing an IDF uniform.
In 2008, Barenboim obtained a Palestinian passport, a gesture approved by the former Hamas-led Palestinian unity government. He then pledged allegiance to an anti-Semitic entity trying to eliminate the other country where Barenboim has a passport: Israel. In March 2002, Barenboim performed in Ramallah, when terror groups were launching suicide attacks against Israeli restaurants, malls and cafés.
To promote the "cause of peace" - as he always claims to be doing - Barenboim could have protested last year when a Palestinian youth orchestra was disbanded in Jenin after performing to Holocaust survivors in Israel. He could have also denounced Hamas when all musical instruments not mentioned in the Koran were banned in Gaza.
Barenboim has always insisted that his choices were inspired by social needs. If true, he could have denounced the Palestinian repression of homosexuals (who seek refuge in Israel) and Christians. Yet he never even said a word on behalf of the right to life of his fellow Israeli citizens blown up to pieces by his Gaza audience. Instead, in 2005 he compared Israeli soldiers to Nazis during a lecture at Columbia University in New York.
Barenboim’s silence has been telling. In August 2003, he was conducting a Concert for Peace in Spain with an Arab orchestra. Meanwhile in Jerusalem, a Route 2 bus full of Jewish faithful returning from the Western Wall was blown up. There were many infants among the dead and injured, in some cases several children from the same family. The genocidal strike has come to be called “the children’s attack” due to the large number of babies. Barenboim could have use the Spanish concert to denounce the massacre of Jews. But he remained silent.
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During the 1967 war, a young Indian conductor, Zubin Mehta, arrived in Israel on a plane loaded with ammunition and arms. It was the only way to reach the Jewish State. In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Mehta returned to conduct concerts almost every night. Mehta is the living example of a great musician who is also a peacemaker. In 1991, when Saddam Hussein rockets hit Tel Aviv, the Israeli auditorium was full of people. Mehta, a non-Jew, played Bach when the siren started to sound. He wore a gas mask.
Another musical virtuoso, Isaac Stern, who in 1973 played in Israeli hospitals and often at patients’ bedsides, performed with Mehta in 1991 when a rocket was fired from Baghdad. Stern stood his ground and calmed the people at the auditorium with a solo Bach Sarabande. Last year Mehta went to Sderot, the most bombed city in the world, to play for Gilad Shalit. It was a simple yet powerful gesture against the enemies of peace.
Barenboim could have done the same in Gaza. A visit of solidarity with the victims of terror would have also been an appropriate gesture to balance his conducting for Hamas. In the Negev there are thousands of Israeli children who have physical disabilities after the rockets. There are children who want to stay inside the bunkers, or in the safe rooms of their homes. There are children who don’t get out of bed anymore. But again, Barenboim remained silent.
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