The organizers of the Flanders Festival Ghent were open about why they decided to cancel a planned concert by the Munich Philharmonic: The reason, they said, was that its Israeli conductor, Lahav Shani, had not sufficiently distanced himself from the actions of Israel’s government.
By cancelling the event, the organizers claim they wanted “to maintain the serenity of our festival,” and state that it is their “deepest conviction that music should be a source of connection and reconciliation.”
But instead of serenity, the move has triggered a wave of outrage — especially in Germany.
An ‘unspeakable and deeply antisemitic act’
Many German politicians and experts have the music festival’s decision.
Germany’s Federal Minister of State for Culture, Wolfram Weimer, called the move “a dangerous precedent,” describing it as “pure antisemitism and an attack on the fundamentals of our culture.”
The German Commissioner for Antisemitism, Felix Klein, also sharply criticized the decision, telling the German press agency dpa: “I consider the cancellation, based on the stated reasons, to be a completely unspeakable and deeply antisemitic act.”
The former President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Charlotte Knobloch, called the cancellation one of the “most blatant examples of current Jew-hatred.” Speaking to dpa, she said: “Anyone who fails to hear the historical echo in this situation is turning a deaf ear,” referring to the anti-Jewish boycotts under the Nazis.
Support from international theaters
Other European theaters scheduled to host the Munich Philharmonic and Lahav Shani in the same week as the Flanders Festival have said they will not follow Ghent’s example.
In a statement to DW, the Philharmonie Luxembourg, which is hosting a concert directed by Shani on September 17, said: “We uphold our position of continuing to work with artists from all over the world. We do not wish to associate ourselves with a boycott of individuals based on nationality, as we do not believe that all artists support or are tied to the policies of their government.”
Shani’s Parisian concert with the Munich Philharmonic at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees will also go ahead as planned on September 16.
Who is Lahav Shani?
Born in Tel Aviv in 1989, Lahav Shani is considered one of classical music’s brightest young stars. He is a conductor, pianist and double bassist, and in 2019, he succeeded Zubin Mehta as director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. .
Since 2016, Shani has also been chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic. Though he is already directing concerts with the Munich Philharmonic, he will officially become the of the German orchestra starting in September 2026. While stepping down in Rotterdam, he will still remain director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
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Calling for peace
For much of his career, Shani was cautious about making political statements. In a 2024 guest essay for German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung for the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, he explained that as the conductor of the Israeli Philharmonic orchestra — with musicians from diverse backgrounds and with often opposing views — he did not feel it was his role to speak out on behalf of any one side.
But that changed in March 2023, when mass protests against planned judicial reforms by ‘s government could be heard outside a Tel Aviv concert hall where Shani was about to perform. That night, he voiced his concerns onstage about the future of Israeli democracy.
Shani also wrote about the shock of realizing that Jews could not feel safe even in Israel after the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023 — a fear shared by many other Jewish people around the world.
Yet he also expressed hope “that on both sides very courageous people will soon come forward, people who think about the future and dare to take the difficult steps towards peace.”
While the Flanders Festival Ghent acknowleged that “Lahav Shani has spoken out in favor of peace and reconciliation several times in the past,” the organizers argued that he had not gone far enough “in the light of his role as the chief conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.”
PEN Berlin, the local branch of an international writers’ association dedicated to free expression, strongly disagrees. In a statement, PEN Berlin spokesperson Thea Dorn said: ” is not only the right to express oneself freely and without fear of reprisal; it also includes the right not to be forced to express one’s beliefs. Coercion to confess is a hallmark of authoritarian and even more so totalitarian regimes.”
Can Shani’s case be compared to Valery Gergiev’s?
The debate over Shani Lahav has sparked comparisons with , who was dismissed by the Munich Philharmonic in March 2022 after refusing to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Jewish pianist Igor Levit, a globally renowned artist known for his outspoken stance against xenophobia and antisemitism, rejected the comparison. “Valery Gergiev is an artist who has been an open, committed supporter, collaborator, and profiteer of the Russian imperialist dictator’s machinations for years. Comparing this man to Lahav Shani — a conductor who, with his German orchestra, only got into this situation because he is an Israeli Jew — is, in my view, a sign of intellectual bankruptcy,” Levit noted in an interview with German news service Tagesschau.
Gergiev had long been a vocal supporter of the Kremlin, appearing in a 2012 campaign advertisement for Vladimir Putin and endorsing the annexation of Crimea. Gergiev is currently the director of the Mariinsky Theater and the Bolshoi Theater in Russia.
Even so, PEN Berlin highlighted some similarities. Dorn noted: “Gergiev and Shani may have very different levels of closeness to their respective governments, yet the accusations leveled against them are similar: It’s not about things they said, but about things they didn’t say. Cancel culture and forced political affiliation are fundamentally to be rejected, and not just when they fit one’s ideological concept.”
‘A cultural boycott is always wrong’
The Shani affair is part of a wider international debate. Many public personalities have been hesitant to speak out on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict — both because of its complexity and the fear that criticizing Israel publicly could have professional consequences.
In Germany, there has been a rise in cancellations of artists and intellectuals whose stance on Israel’s policies was seen as too critical. This practice has also .
Jewish-Austrian author Eva Menasse has been a vocal opponent of such boycotts. She told DW that “cultural boycotts are always wrong.” She argued that they are used by groups to reaffirm their respective moral stances, but they’re only a distraction from the political steps that need to be taken.
“Will a disinvited orchestra prevent the ongoing, monstrous destruction of Gaza? Will it save a single child from starvation? No, of course not. Only politics can do that,” says Menasse. “At the same time, cultural boycotts always lead to more polarization and division in society.”
Menasse also pointed to a double standard, asking why those who are now condemning the Ghent cancellation were silent when Jewish intellectuals and artists who were critical of Israel were disinvited elsewhere. She cited Israeli-German philosopher Omri Boehm, whose speech for the 80th anniversary of the Buchenwald concentration camp’s liberation was after objections by the Israeli ambassador, and the controversy over awarding the Hannah Arendt Prize to Masha Gessen, after the journalist compared Gaza to Nazi-era ghettos in an article for the New Yorker magazine.
The controversy over the Ghent festival’s cancellation has shown once again how quickly culture and politics become entangled — while some view boycotts as a legitimate form of protest, others warn that they often deepen divisions and risk silencing important voices. Navigating the complex debates over artistic expression and political accountability will likely remain a major challenge for cultural institutions in a deeply divided world.
Edited by: Brenda Haas and Marianna Evenstein
The post Cancellation of Israeli conductor’s concert: The problem with cultural boycotts appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
