At a meeting held on Monday evening the board of directors of the Ghent Festival of Flanders confirmed its decision to cancel a concert by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra featuring the Israeli conductor Lahav Shani. The decision to cancel the concert was first announced last week. Since then it has been criticised both here in Belgium and abroad.
Ghent Festival of Flanders’ board of directors confirms decision to cancel Munich Philharmonic concert
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The Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever (Flemish nationalist said that the decision to cancel the concert is antisemitic. At the weekend Mr De Wever travelled to the German city of Essen where he attended a concert by the Munich Philharmonic and met Mr Shani. Those that support the cancellation say that the conductor’s lack of condemnation of Isreal’s actions in Gaza is problematic and this is valid reason not to go ahead with the concert
The festival says that its decision to cancel was not based on prejudice of any kind. In a statement the festival’s board said that “The decision was in no way based on Mr Shani's origins or nationality, nor was his personal integrity questioned,".
The festival adds that it regrets the commotion and controversy that has arisen, but it confirms that the concert will not take place on Thursday. Future programming at the Ghent Festival of Flanders will “continue to focus on artistic connection and inclusion.’
The cancellation is at least in part also motivated by fears that the festival could attract protests from pro-Palestinian groups if the concert were to go ahead. Meanwhile, the MP and Mayor of Aalst (East Flanders) Christoph D’Haese (Flemish nationalist) has announced that he is to resign from the festival’s board of directors in protest at the decision to cancel the concert.