The BBC is due to cut comments made by violinist Nigel Kennedy about “apartheid” in Israel when it broadcasts his concert, performed with Palestinian artists as part of the Proms musical festival, on British television channels next week.Al Arabiya's headline calls this "censorship."
The concert, held at London’s Royal Albert Hall last week, featured 17 musicians from the Palestine Strings, the troupe performed Vivaldi’s Four Seasons alongside Kennedy.
Kennedy likened the situation in Israel to apartheid in South Africa.
“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a bit facile to say it but we all know from experiencing this night of music tonight that giving equality and getting rid of apartheid means there's a chance for amazing things to happen," said Kennedy.
The decision to cut Kennedy’s comment was made due to “editorial reasons,” they removed because of “the way it fitted in with the program, ” a BBC spokesperson told Al Arabiya English.
“Nigel’s comment to the audience at his late-night prom on August 8 will not be included in the deferred BBC 4 broadcast on August 23 because it does not fall within the editorial remit of the proms as a classical music festival.”
Kennedy dedicated his performance at the Proms to Palestinians, according to his introduction.
“The concert tonight is very emotional, because I am performing for people who are imprisoned, to give them two hours of fun and show them that the world has not forgotten about them,” he said.
Dressed in popular Palestinian garments, the players from the Palestinian orchestra played a specially-curated fusion of classical work with Arab and folk music alongside the celebrated violinist.
You can hear Kennedy's comment about "apartheid" starting at about 1:05, and it causes a 30 second ovation from the British audience:
The snippet of the video released so far by the BBC sounds like it was an interesting concert despite Kennedy's hate, as their version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons added some "Eastern" influence.
To my untrained ear, the violin that is meant to sound Arabic sounds surprisingly like Eastern European Jewish music as well.
Remember that two years ago, Israelis performing at the Proms were interrupted by protesters and the BBC broadcast was stopped.
As far as I can tell, no one called to boycott these young Palestinian Arab musicians, there were no heckles or yelling interrupting their performances, and there were no crowds outside yelling at attendees for supporting a group that represents those who celebrate murderers of Jews.