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.
Yes. But that does not mean, “every jewish person” gets treated like this. They might (because antisemitism is on the rise), but this case is not a good example for that.
And he may have strongly opposed the Netanyahu regime and the article may have watered it down as “in favor of peace and reconciliation” or he may have been paying lip service or whatever. I don’t know that. And yes, this can be a slippery slope: how much is enough “clarity”? Who gets to decide that? And in what cases (Gaza isn’t the only place where atrocities happen)? But people can also think “This is too much. You need to speak up or don’t want to work with you.” without it necessarily being antisemitism.