The PLO says "jump," South Africa asks "how high?" (UPDATE)

South Africa doesn't even pretend to be even-handed:

South African ministers do not visit Israel, International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said.

"Our Palestinian friends have never asked us to disengage with Israel [through cutting diplomatic relations]. They had asked us in formal meetings to not engage with the regime," she said at a Congress of SA Trade Unions international relations committee meeting.

"Ministers of South Africa do not visit Israel currently. Even the Jewish Board of Deputies that we engage with here, they know why our ministers are not going to Israel."

She said South Africa had not been asked to "close down" its diplomatic relations with Israel.

"We have agreed to slow down and curtail senior leadership contact with that regime until things begin to look better," Nkoana-Mashabane said.

"The struggle of the people of Palestine is our struggle."

She said South Africa had a Palestinian embassy, which was supported "100 percent".

Nkoana-Mashabane said the South African struggle was not just about itself, but also international solidarity.

"The last time I saw a map of Palestine, I couldn't go to sleep," she said.

"It is just dots, smaller than those of the homelands, and that broke my heart."

The meeting was also addressed by a group campaigning for the release of all Palestinian political prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti, who had become a symbol of the Palestinian struggle.

From her very words, it appears that the PLO is directing South African policy in the Middle East. Can anyone imagine a US leader saying that their policy is dictated by what their "Israeli friends" demand?

The version of this article in the Mail & Guardian was headlined "Nkoana-Mashabane: SA ministers do not visit Palestine."

This same minister issued a completely one-sided condemnation of Israel in 2009. She mentions Hamas rockets but only condemns Israel's response.

(h/t @jethrosteve)

UPDATE: A week later, the Aouth African government denies any such policy.

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Protesters shout "Shoot the Jew" outside concert at Wits University (UPDATE)

I mentioned a few weeks ago that a concert by the Daniel Zamir Quartet was coming to Wits University in South Africa in order to make up for the concert by Yossi Reshef last March that was cut short by obnoxious protesters who crashed into the show.

The haters, of course, were going crazy that an Israeli jazz group would be playing. The sponsors, including the South Africa Jewish Board of Deputies, took some precautions to ensure that attendees would not disrupt the concert - an eminently reasonable move.

They used a ticket broker who asked all who wanted to purchase tickets for information like their student numbers. However, one ticket broker misunderstood the instructions and told some of the haters on the phone that "only Jews" would be allowed to attend.

This was of course not true, but the BDSers tried to spread the recording and then protested to the university that the event was a "Jews-only" event.

The concert went off today without a hitch and all races and religions were in the audience. As the Wits Vuvuzela reports:

A Wits PhD student, Serge Tshibangu, said the allegations made by BDS were false because he had ordered a ticket and had received confirmation of the order, even though he is “African”: I totally disagree that it is a racist concert.”

Tshibangu said he ordered his tickets on Monday. He had to give his full names and identification number to buy the ticket but he understood it was so his ID number could be checked by Campus Control officers when he arrived at the concert.

Krengel said he “applauded Wits University for upholding the democratic values and freedoms that have made it so fine an academic institution and for its forthright rejection of the intimidatory, bullying tactics of those who do not scruple to undermine those freedoms in order to push their own radical political agendas.”

What has been so far unreported in the media is the bigoted actions of the protesters outside the concert. While the haters said they were going to hold a silent protest - and the Mail & Guardian claimed that they did - a reporter from the Vuvuzela, Emelia Motsai, a journalism student, tweeted otherwise:

Emelia Motsai

Some protesters have tapes on their mouths, some are singing softly. It was said that this would be a "silent protest" #Witsconcert

Protester are now in the corridors of the great hall shouting "down with zionism down" to those who are going into the #Witsconcert

There is no silence in this protest. The protesters are now singing loudly as #Witsconcert attendees arrive.

Some #Witsconcert attendees rolling their eyes as they pass the shouting protesters. another passed by holding up a scarf written 'israel'

"You have the blood of Palestine children on your jersey" shouted a protester to a lady attending #Witsconcert

Some protesters throwing papers at #Witsconcert attendees as they arrive.

'Dubula e Juda" shoot Judah, sings the protesters #Witsconcert

. A campus control officer just confirmed that the auditorium was full.

"Dubula e Juda" of course means "Shoot the Jew."

These lowlifes were claiming that the Jews were acting in a discriminatory way by their bogus charge that only Jews would be allowed. Yet they are the biggest bigots of all.

And news outlet SABC called the BDS movement "a human rights organization!"

UPDATE: The protesters actually justify the chants, claiming that "Shoot the Jew" is not antisemitic!

At some point the protesters threw papers at concert attendees as they arrived. They also sang, “dubula e juda” (“shoot the Jew”), and chanted “there is no such thing as Israel” and “Israel apartheid” as the concert attendees were coming in.

{Muhammed Desai, coordinator of BDS South Africa] said many African people in South Africa when using the word “Jews” meant it in the same way they would have during the eighties. “Just like you would say kill the Boer at funeral during the eighties it wasn’t about killing white people, it was used as a way of identifying with the apartheid regime”.

He said there was no evidence of Jews being harmed because of anti-Semitic impulses, – “the whole idea anti-Semitism is blown out of proportion”. He said if there were anti-Semitic sentiments they would flatly challenge it even if it came from within their protest.

Let's shoot Desai. But by "Desai" I simply mean people who justify saying "Shoot the Jews." Nothing offensive about that, right?

(h/t Joseph)

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Daughter of SA activist talks about demonization of Israel

Esther Meshoe, daughter of conservative South African parliamentarian, Dr. Kenneth Meshoe, refutes false allegations of apartheid on the part of Israel.




((h/t IsraDocuMentalist)

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Heads up for the next South Africa concert by Israelis

Last March, the University of Wits in South Africa sponsored a concert by an acclaimed pianist, Yossi Reshef, who was born in Israel. While the sponsors promised that they would ensure proper security, protesters crashed into the show and ruined the evening for everyone in ways that left many South Africans ashamed.  The University apologized to the people who wanted to listen to the music, and couldn't:

The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, deeply regrets that a concert held on its campus last night was disrupted by some members of the University community and representatives of external organisations.

In light of this incident, the University takes this opportunity to issue a public apology to all those who attended the concert. The disruption of this event points to intolerance on the part of some members of the University community and goes against the core values espoused by the University. The University is investigating this matter and will take the necessary action based on its policies, processes and procedures

.Now we will have an opportunity to see if the University of Wits is serious about their words.

Jazz fans are in for a treat as renowned Israeli saxophonist, Daniel Zamir, is en route to South Africa with three other impressive musicians. The Daniel Zamir Quartet – which includes Zamir, Omri Mor on piano, Gilad Abro on contrabass, and Amir Bresler on drums – will perform at the Great Hall at the University of the Witwatersrand on Wednesday, 28 August.

Zamir is one of the most influential musicians in Israel. He is a virtuoso sax player and composer of what could be defined as “Jewish jazz”, fusing together elements of Jewish sounds and high quality jazz, together with ethnic and world music elements.

“We are thrilled to finally have the Daniel Zamir Quartet coming to South Africa,” says Professor Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, one of South Africa’s foremost composers and composition professor within the Music Department at Wits School of the Arts. “He is such a fantastic musician and is hugely popular, not only in Israel but across the jazz world.”

The audience can expect the unexpected – a unique concert that combines jazz and new age Jewish music, with a touch of the experimental and the Klezmer music genre.

“Lovers of jazz and Jewish music are going to be thrilled by the quartet. They are a relatively young group, and bring to the art of jazz a completely different dimension with their ability to experiment and fuse different genres,” said Zaidel-Rudolph.

One of the leaders in disrupting the Reshef concert is anxious to do the same to Zamir:

We'll see in a few weeks whether the University can uphold its stated values.

Here's a concert with Zamir:



(h/t Steve)

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COSATU dicks: "Penis infections preferable to safe Israeli medical devices"

From BDLive:

THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has taken its anti-Israeli campaign a notch higher, threatening to boycott the use of the newly approved PrePex circumcising device, which it says is made in the Jewish state.

The introduction of PrePex — a nonsurgical circumcising device given the green light by the World Health Organisation — was announced this week during the sixth South African Aids Conference taking place in Durban.

The device was described as cheap, safe and easy to use and would replace the controversial Malaysian-made Tara KLamp during the government’s medical male circumcision campaign.

The Department of Health said the PrePex would be rolled out across the country in the next few months.

HIV/AIDS activist organisations such as the Treatment Action Campaign have given PrePex a nod of approval saying it is much safer than the Tara KLamp, which is widely used in KwaZulu-Natal’s health facilities to circumcise men as a way of reducing their chances of contracting HIV.

But Cosatu on Wednesday signalled it would be a spanner in the works for the PrePex’s introduction. The federation’s spokesman Patrick Craven said while it was behind the government’s drive to circumcise men to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, the federation would not relent on its longstanding call to boycott all Israeli-made products.

Mr Craven said the federation would call for a similar device to be made in South Africa.

"The point is not whether this device (PrePex) is the best or not. What we are saying is that there should be a wholesale boycott of all products from Israel, including this one. We cannot have exceptions," he said.

The existing Tara KLamp has caused serious problems, with some 21% of men using it in trials reporting damage to their penis and bleeding, 32% getting infections and 37% reporting complications. Health officials have been complaining about that device for years. Officials have described it as a "horror."

Some horrific photos of damaged penises from the Tara KLamp can be seen linked here. This is what Cosatu prefers.

The Israeli PrePex device, on the other hand, has been clinically tested to be highly effective even compared to surgical circumcision:

The PrePex device, manufactured by the Israeli company Circ MedTech, works by using an elastic band that compresses the foreskin against a rigid plastic ring that is placed on the inside of the penis's foreskin. The elastic band cuts off the blood supply to the foreskin, which becomes harder, loses sensation and dries out. According to a technical expert from the US government's Office of the Global Aids Co-ordinator (the president's fund headquarters), Dr Jason Reed, the process is similar to that of an umbilical cord clamp.

"Once the foreskin has 'died', a client returns a week later to have the device removed and the hardened skin is then easily cut away," he said.

Although a local analgesic ointment is applied when the inner ring is inserted beneath the foreskin, no local anaesthesia – and thus no needles – are required, as with surgical circumcisions. And because live tissue is not cut, a sterile environment and stitches are not needed. There is usually no bleeding and research studies have shown that pain levels are comparable with, or in some cases lower than, those involving surgical circumcisions.

A study conducted in Rwanda last year found that the PrePex procedure could be performed in one-fifth of the time (three minutes) of an average surgical procedure (15 to 30 minutes). The study also found that most participants using the PrePex device were able to return to work within three hours after the device had been put on, whereas those undergoing surgical circumcisions often needed a few days to recover. Another Rwandan study has shown that the PrePex procedure can be carried out by "low-cadre nurses", unlike surgical circumcisions, which require skilled surgeons or surgical nurses.

Reed said: "Most African countries have a shortage of healthcare providers with surgical skills, particularly doctors, which makes it challenging to perform high volumes of surgical circumcisions. A medical device that would eliminate the need for such constrained resources could help to speed up the process greatly."

Yes, Cosatu prefers that tens of thousands of men be exposed to penis infections, bleeding and pain instead of using a safe Israeli product that could help stem AIDS and other problems in Africa.

Do you think any of them will volunteer to use the Tara KLamp to show their commitment to their sacred anti-Israel cause?

There is no better example of Israel Derangement Syndrome than this. In fact, it is probably a good idea to tweet all the BDS idiots and ask them straight out if they agree with Cosatu here, and believe that the danger to thousands of men's penises (and, indeed, public health)  is a small price to pay to avoid using an Israeli product.

(h/t IAcquisitive)

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South Africa haters upset that students who disrupted concert are being charged

Remember the concert by pianist Yossi Reshef that was stopped by Israel-haters who broke into the concert hall and jumped on the stage? A reminder:

Guests and the audience arriving for the concert, were manhandled, shoved by the student protesters and utterly traumatised - some were in tears and shaking.

What values do we espouse at Wits? We talk glibly about freedom to express oneself. A protest does not mean freedom to smash windows to get into the basement, nor does it mean breaking the door to the Atrium, so that a mob can break through into the hall where a civilised classical music concert was in progress.

The music department was assured that the public and the students at the concert would be protected. A group of wellmeaning but utterly helpless security guards could not control the mob.

Our music students were traumatised by the swearing, threats and intimidations in the Atrium when the mob burst in screaming and with vuvuzelas and went berserk.

Is this the kind of freedom for which Wits stands? Is this the kind of message that Wits sends out to the public - that if we don’t like something we are entitled to disrupt and destroy it? Of course the concert had to stop. This was not a political rally - it was a concert.

The haters, naturally, are being brought up on charges by the university for their crimes. But their comrades seem to feel that violently stopping a pianist from playing is considered "free speech" and is something to be admired!

From Business Day Live (South Africa:)

CONGRESS of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on Friday added to a call for the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) to drop charges of violating its code of conduct against students who disrupted a concert by an Israeli pianist.

Hundreds of protesters gathered on the Wits campus in Johannesburg on Friday to demand that the university’s management call off disciplinary hearings, scheduled for next week, against 11 current and former members of its Students’ Representative Council (SRC) who disrupted an on-campus concert by Israeli pianist Yossi Reshef in March.

The concert, which took place during international "Israeli Apartheid Week", was cancelled after 15 minutes after students from, among other organisations, the SRC and the African National Congress Youth League took to the stage in solidarity with Palestinians.

Speaking at the protest, Mr Vavi said that former president Nelson Mandela "would be shocked to hear that students were harassed and now charged by this university". Wits had a proud history of not being intimidated by the apartheid regime and now risked being an instrument of "Zionist racists", he said.

Protesters on Friday handed over a memorandum demanding an immediate end to the charges to Wits management.

In Vavi's memo, we see a master of Orwellian rhetroric:

We stand here, in a free, democratic and post-apartheid South Africa, to affirm our unequivocal support for the right of all people to engage in peaceful resistance in defence of their rights and those of others.

We therefore condemn in the strongest terms the fact that Wits University has charged 11 students (9 of them SRC Members) for participating in an SRC-led protest at the Israeli Embassy-sponsored piano concert in which an Israeli (publicly admitted Zionist) was performing. [The concert was not sponsored by the Israel Embassy, by the way - EoZ]

This concert, and the protest, happened during the Israeli Apartheid Week campaign, which the SRC participated in and endorses. Now, the charges have left our comrades in great fear of being expelled and thus losing their careers. Students learn not only academically, but also through their active participation in extra-mural and political or social mobilisation for the cause of the greater society in which they live. They can't isolate themselves from the conditions surrounding them and their people, within and outside their own immediate boundaries.

The university seeks to demobilize the growing BDS movement and opposition to its silence and complicity with Israel and its actions. We should applaud the student leadership of their bravery and conviction to defend and fight for justice, in particular their opposition to Israeli Apartheid, and voicing their frustration when any complicity is shown by the university authorities on their own campus.

We condemn the university's response of targeting student leadership by charging them. This is not only wrong and undermines the fundamental right to protest, but an indication that the university dismisses the legitimate claims and demands of the students.

Get that? Israelis, and Zionists, have no right to speech, to play music publicly or indeed to be treated like human beings. The students who broke through police lines, broke windows and doors to force themselves in, violently disrupted the concert, intimidated the audience and guests, and terrorized the artist should not only not be charged - they should be admired! But they must not suffer any consequences for breaking the law. That would be wrong.

How liberal!

Luckily, some students at Wits are not falling for this hypocrisy:

Dear Wits Student

I love my University , but I do not love what is happening to it.....

I love my University so much I spent two years homeless and hungry trying to raise money to continue my education, and now I am worried about this great institution, I am sure you are too....

The student representative council, has chosen to ignore the 'R' in SRC, they have chosen to turn our University into their political playground at the expense of our issues.

To be blunt, I do not care about Israel and or Palestine, I am a hungry poor black man and I have more immediate issues that bother me, issues like my inability to buy text books, my inability to raise printing money, issues such as the crowded libraries with few computers, issues such as the Kudu buck machines with no coin slots for the poor students.

I have not heard the SRC speak of these issues for the past three months, all they have been making noise about is the Israel Palestine issue, which is not immediate to me.

Other students have different issues,...

Today the SRC tells us they are fighting for us, for the right to protest, yet the truth is they are telling half the story. They may have a right to protest, but the jewish students also have a right to congregate without being bullied or disrupted. JEWS ARE STUDENTS TOO, THEY DESERVE REPRESENTATION TOO....

Representation requires listening and speaking for all students!

The SRC is not the toy of political parties to be used to divide us and to advance your personal ambition. Your job is not to serve some of us , but all of us.

You do not represent yourselves, or only the palestinian students, your job is to represent all of us....and you have not done that. ...

As a student I feel unrepresented by you, I feel ignored by you, but more importantly I feel like you have come to harm the institution I have sweated blood and tears to be a part of....

You have eroded unity, you have disrupted peaceful gatherings and caused commotion at our University....and you have done this in my name as a student....but I NEVER GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO ....

With love
a Concerned Wits student

We live in a Bizarro world where up is down, black is white, free speech is oppression and violent oppression is freedom.

I have a feeling that the students will not be punished at all. Bullying Jews and Zionists will be considered a human right in parts of South Africa.

Kristallnacht cannot be far behind.

(h/t StevenZ)

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South Africa concert attack update

More details about the attack on the Yom Ha'atzmaut concert in South Africa are coming out. While BDS South Africa claims that Jewish security guards attacked them (!), the truth can be seen here:

On Monday evening, April 15th, attempts to sabotage the Israeli Independence day celebrations at the Gold Reef City Lyric Theatre were carried out by over one hundred BDS, COSATU, PSC and MSA members.

The members of these groups together with collaborators began to protest outside of the venue from 6pm. They were shouting, “Down with Israel” slogans, singing and blowing vuvuzelas. One speaker at the event made it clear that these movements are “going to make it so uncomfortable for Zionists to exist in this country” (South Africa) and another speaker stated that, “this will be the last year that they will be celebrating Israeli Independence.” (Which can be viewed as a direct threat to most Jews in SA).

From there, certain members of BDS, the MSA and the SRC’s from three Gauteng universities tried to get into the event as people were arriving. A source has said that “they managed to call the Lyric Theatre office and bought tickets; they even managed to get into the venue however some were stopped at the door by the heavy security (supplied by both the Jewish Community and Gold Reef City) as they looked suspicious.”

A second source has reported that some of the members of the Anti-Israel groups who were stopped at the door by Security (CSO) at the venue, began to cause a fuss saying that “being denied entry is pure racism and unjust” even though these BDS members had a plan to disrupt the concert. “They used the race card against us even though they were planning something sinister” says the source.

However, security measures did not prevail as an hour into the show, a group of the BDS/MSA/PSC ruffians made it into the venue intimidating members of the audience and shouting swear words, “down with Apartheid-Israel – Free Palestine” and “You suck” to the current performer.

Security forces managed to remove them but a sense of uneasiness had already begun to settle within the crowd, “An elderly lady behind me fell to the floor in shock as these guys started intimidating the audience. Her husband had to console her throughout the rest of the concert. It was terrible” says one witness.

Another witness, close to the commotion stated that he had to help settle a shocked woman down. “She was quite a heavily pregnant lady and she started having cramps and pain as a result of the fright caused from the commotion. It was in such bad taste.”

During the closing ceremony of the concert, while world-renown singer Yaniv D’Or’s performed “Eli-Eli”, a Holocaust song written by Hannah Senesh, one of the female protestors who had managed to infiltrate the concert got up and ran on stage screaming “free Palestine” slogans. She together with other members, who had managed to gain access to the concert as well, began to set off stink bombs around the venue, shouting “Israel-Apartheid stinks.”

At this point Yaniv who had very bravely carried on his performance hoping that they would leave, made the heroic decision to pick up the protestor and removed her off the stage while continuing to sing. He handed her over to security forces that were waiting by the stage.

A number of BDS members were arrested on the scene after this disruption, including the daughter of a senior COSATU official. They spent Monday evening in jail and were released at 4am the next morning.

MyShtetl adds:

Gold Reef City had received a bomb threat on Monday night the SAZF has revealed today, while SAPS, CSO & Gold Reef security were trying to contain illegal protesters. SA Jewry is “entitled to celebrate without intimidation and our rights being trampled on!” said the Fed today.

The Fed insists that claims of a violent assault on protestors at Monday’s night’s Yom Ha’atzmaut concert at Gold Reef City “are false and defamatory. On the contrary, it was the protestors who engaged in illegal disruptive actions at a private function, thereby blatantly infringing the right of the Jewish community to celebrate its culture and heritage,” says the Fed.

The Fed claims that Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS-SA) protesters gained access to the event under false pretences, threw stink bombs into the audience, attacked and injured an elderly woman and forced themselves onto the stage, where they attempted to attack the performers.

At Wits University, which saw similarly ugly attacks last month that shut down a concert that featured an Israeli-born pianist, things went a bit better this time:

On a more positive note, celebrations at the Wits Yom Ha’atzmaut party were not disrupted at all as the university implemented a ban on any members of these groups coming anywhere near the festivities. They were threatened with serious disciplinary action. There was also a large contingent of security around the event which deterred any unruly action from taking place. A wonderful time was had by all.

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Haters disrupt South Africa Yom Ha'Atzmaut concert - no news coverage

Last night, there was a concert in Gold Reef City, Johannesburg to celebrate Yom Ha'Atzmaut:

The counter-tenor Yaniv D'Or describes what happened on his Facebook page:

Dear Friends,

Tonight I felt the venom of hatred. During a performance in Johannesburg a group or protestors stormed the Lyric Theatre and shouted some strong pro palestinians slogans as I was singing the wonderful melody of Eli Eli which is written by Hannah Senesh at the time of the holocaust.

They hated me for the wrong reasons. I am a proud Israeli and British citizen and very much supporting freedom for Palestine...

I continued singing as if nothing happened in hope it was a one off incident. I was so wrong. After the break without any particular reason another protestor (female) stormed the stage as I was singing and started shouting again pro palestinian slogans, this time also exploding stinky bombs on stage.

In a state of shock and this time also anger, I found myself hugging her, lifting her on my side while accompanying her back stage before handing her to security. She could have very easily stub me but my impulse was stronger than me and I couldn't feel fear at that point.

Everyone have the right to voice their opinion but interrupting a concert just because of religious or nationality hatred is too much for me. There are other means one should express disagreement. Not like this.

Sad times.

One responder in Facebook named Sarah Wainer verified the event:

I was at the concert last night. Yaniv gave an incredible performance, what a beautiful voice! How he managed to throw the lady off the stage and continue to sing at the same time, was also amazing!!! :) Thank you Yaniv!

I cannot find a single news story about the interruption. SABC briefly mentions the protesters outside, but nothing about the concert itself being interrupted:

Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) South Africa held a protest outside Gold Reef City in Johannesburg last night, where supporters of Israel were attending a music concert to celebrate Israeli Independence.

It seems likely that the stink-bomb attack was well planned by BDS South Africa, because the hashtag in Twitter for the protest is "IsraelApartheidStinks." According to one anti-Israel tweeter, there were two women arrested - but they were released.

Is the South African community so inured to these obnoxious haters that no one even thinks people throwing stink-bombs in the middle of a performance is even worth mentioning?

(h/t Steven Z)

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Followup on South Africa hatefest at piano concert

The South Africa Jewish Report has an article by Yossi Reshef, the Israeli-born pianist whose concert was shut down by haters at Wits University earlier this month:

The sight before me on the evening of March 12, 2013 was one I will never forget. As I was trying to overcome the sound of noise, singing and vuvuzelas coming from the outside with Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Tempest” Sonata, I was already feeling quite ill from stress.

The moment the perpetrators broke in [to the hall] was somewhat of a relief; at that moment I could stop this fight knowing they had beaten me. Never before as an artist did I ever feel that I needed to fight evil and ignorance but here I was forced to confront a moment in my life where I had to face ugliness and chaos. The music stopped, chaos prevailed.

A classical pianist schedules performances months (sometimes years) in advance. This tour was planned a long time ago after months of hard work and preparation on both my side and that of the organisers.

The Israeli Embassy took no active part, but assistance was offered by Tararam, the South African/Israel Culture Fund, solely with my airfares. Anyone who knows the cost of coming to South Africa and the relatively low fees paid, would understand my gratitude when offered this assistance.

I also felt that it was important for me and for the organisers to show another side of Israel - that of culture - which is not often portrayed in the media. I was warned that there might be protests, but at no point was an “Israel Apartheid Week” (a ridiculous idea in itself, as Israel is one of the world’s finest
democracies) mentioned.

At no point was I ever asked by anyone to postpone or cancel my performances. This fact alone proves that my concerts were a mere platform on which this organised act of violence could occur.

I am a musician, not a politician. I am an Israeli (and a very proud one), but does this make me a representative of my country’s policies? The fact that in many places it is mentioned that I live in Germany (and I am very happily making music there) seems to have no relevance. Had I been living in Tel Aviv, would
that have justified any of these protests?

It is also quite obvious that the perpetrators are fully unaware of my activities which support dialogue and the peace process in the Middle East, among them my eight-year coaching of Israeli and Arab students (Palestinian, Syrian, Jordanian and so on) in the “Playing for Peace” project organised by the Apple Hill Chamber Centre in New Hampshire, USA and my concerts with an Egyptian pianist as part of the European Mozart Academy.

However, this clearly made no difference to those bent on disrupting my performances simply because I originate from Israel.

My mission as I see it, is to deal with beauty. I spend most of my waking hours trying to decipher the meaning and content of the great masterpieces, their technical solutions, and their metaphysical realm.

Interrupting with the sound of vuvuzelas at the very end of a Beethoven sonata, one of humanity’s greatest treasures, is no less than a clash of cultures. The violence and hatred seen in the perpetrators’ eyes is something I will never forget.

I feel more hurt for the many people who came to the concert than for myself. An artist can earn no greater honour than the people who display their gratitude by coming to listen to him.

And for this, in fact I am thankful.

I am thankful for all the support I received during this tour, and I want to return to this beautiful country once again to play my music.

On my concert in Stellenbosch, three days later, heavy security was put outside the hall. The demonstrators were already confronted by some of the concert-goers and the concert took place without interruption. I feel there is still hope.

There are also come details on what happened outside the Wits concert:

I have never felt so ashamed to be a Witsie tonight. The artist/pianist who lives in Berlin and carries an Israeli passport, came to Wits as one of (the Department of Music’s) scheduled concerts to give a performance in the Atrium.

Our concert organiser, Prof Malcolm Nay, acted in good faith and was assured by the acting dean, that if there were to be protests, (and it was likely that there would be), the mob would be kept behind a barrier away from the guests and audience who had paid to come and hear an international pianist of repute.

Guests and the audience arriving for the concert, were manhandled, shoved by the student protesters and utterly traumatised - some were in tears and shaking.

What values do we espouse at Wits? We talk glibly about freedom to express oneself. A protest does not mean freedom to smash windows to get into the basement, nor does it mean breaking the door to the Atrium, so that a mob can break through into the hall where a civilised classical music concert was in progress.

The music department was assured that the public and the students at the concert would be protected. A group of wellmeaning but utterly helpless security guards could not control the mob.

Our music students were traumatised by the swearing, threats and intimidations in the Atrium when the mob burst in screaming and with vuvuzelas and went berserk.

Is this the kind of freedom for which Wits stands? Is this the kind of message that Wits sends out to the public - that if we don’t like something we are entitled to disrupt and destroy it? Of course the concert had to stop. This was not a political rally - it was a concert.

As much as the students had a right to a peaceful protest, so did the concert have a right to take place.

(h/t Israel Muse)

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