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Famed Amsterdam Concert Hall Called ‘Cowards’ for Canceling Israeli String Quartet Performances Due to Anti-Israel Protests
The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Picture taken August 16, 2019. Photo: REUTERS/Eva Plevier
A world-famous concert hall in Amsterdam announced this week the cancellation of two upcoming concerts by the Israeli music group Jerusalem Quartet because of concerns regarding anti-Israel protests scheduled to take place at the venue and around the city.
The Concertgebouw said on Tuesday the decision was made “due to announced demonstrations, and the recent developments surrounding protests in Amsterdam.” The music hall said it could not guarantee the safety of employees, visitors, and musicians and thus decided to cancel the group’s performances of music by Felix Mendelssohn, Claude Debussy, and Israeli composer Paul Ben-Haim on Thursday and Saturday. The string quartet is comprised of three violinists and a cellist.
The decision was met with backlash from pro-Israel supporters and the Jerusalem Quartet itself, which said on Tuesday the Concertgebouw is surrendering to “bullying and terrorism” by canceling the shows. Others called the move “horrible,” “disgusting,” “shameful,” and “a disgrace.” Some social media users called Concergebouw “a bunch of cowards” and “antisemitic idiots.”
“Your actions have given new meaning to the word ‘cancel culture.’ You capitulate,” the Central Jewish Consultation (CJO) wrote in a letter to the venue. “Yes, the Jerusalem Quartet consists of four musicians from Israel. This in no way justifies opposing their concert. Your choice for this quartet was based on musical considerations. Stick to it and don’t let anything stop you from doing what your goal is.”
In response to the intense scrutiny, Concertgebouw’s General Manager Simon Reinink released a statement on Wednesday further explaining concerns regarding the security and safety of those at the music venue. He said Concertgebouw received “a flood of messages from people and organizations opposing the quartet.” Two anti-Israel demonstrations were scheduled to take place, and social media users urged the public to demonstrate at the Concertgebouw as well.
“What finally made us decide not to go ahead with these concerts after all has everything to do with the security situation in The Concertgebouw,” it explained. “The Concertgebouw itself is responsible for that. With two simultaneous concerts in the Main Hall and Recital Hall, there are 2,500 people in the building. With that, the security situation can quickly become precarious.”
“Until recently, the demonstrations were peaceful and no reason for us not to allow the concerts to go ahead,” the music hall added. “However, recent developments in and around the University of Amsterdam made that, after extremely intense discussions, we came to the decision not to allow the concerts to go ahead. We could not guarantee the safety within our building of staff, visitors, and musicians. We are very sorry for all visitors and not least for the musicians of the Jerusalem Quartet.”
Concertgebouw said it has been in contact with the Jerusalem Quarter about finding a later date for the shows “where safety can be guaranteed.”
In February, anti-Israel activists interrupted a concert by the Jerusalem Quartet taking place in the Theater Diligentia in The Hague. They waved Palestinian flags and shouted over the music, accusing the music group of “promoting genocide” and distracting people from Israel’s alleged “war crimes.” They were removed from the venue by security guards. A performance by the Jerusalem Quarter was also disrupted by protesters in January in the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ in Amsterdam and the same happened in 2010 during a BBC live broadcast in London.
The post Famed Amsterdam Concert Hall Called ‘Cowards’ for Canceling Israeli String Quartet Performances Due to Anti-Israel Protests first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
The post Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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