Israeli clarinet is beaten up in Berlin

Israeli clarinet is beaten up in Berlin

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norman lebrecht

May 09, 2019

The Israeli clarinetist Daniel Gurfinkel was attacked in Hermann-Platz at Palestinian fair on Saturday.

Daniel and his twin brother Alexander, 27, are students at the Hanns Eisler Academy.

He does not appear to have been seriously injured. The duo are playing a recital tonight in Hanover with the pianist Elisaveta Blumina.

Here’s an unclear video of the incident.

 

Comments

  • John Borstlap says:

    The violent emotions are spreading far beyond the borders of the local conflict, due to globalization and immigration. But slogans pro this or that don’t help because the problem is too complex. And primitive clashes are to be expected at any place where the rights of one side or the other is presented. Just awful.

    • Olassus says:

      The “violent emotions” have indeed spread, rapidly in the last ten years. Cologne, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Birmingham, Manchester, London, Berlin — all are tinderboxes now.

      This is not understood in the United States, where the “melting pot” tradition is ingrained and believed almighty. The Founding Fathers never anticipated separate societies on Christian soil with one of them implacably anti-Jewish.

      In the end these people will have to go home, because they cannot be separated from their faith, or their faith from its social system, codified in scripture. And we can only hope this will happen short of civil war.

      As for the Jew walking across a Berlin square to the sound of that music, that language, that enmity of Israel, well, how exactly is he expected to respond? Walk someplace else? Merkel, Corbyn, and their ilk have no answer, which is why she is on the way out and he must not gain power.

      • observer says:

        Does the name Ferguson, Missouri mean anything to you? In 2014, rioting and arson went on for days after the police shot a young black man. Riots resumed after he was acquitted. The riots continued sporadically over the next two years. There have been no race riots in Europe that compare to Ferguson in duration, destruction, and violence.

        • Cyril says:

          There was no acquittal (which implies a trial); rather, the police officer who shot him was not charged with a crime. Evidence was presented to a grand jury, which declined to indict him.

      • YoYo Mama says:

        Have to go home? How dare you. The United States of American would not have existed without the work of Haym Salomon, as we well know. Perhaps that is why the USA implacably supports the Jewish people, despite the anti-Semitism of the extreme left and some of the right.

  • observer says:

    From the video, it looks like Daniel was the aggressor.

    • esfir ross says:

      I know personally Gurfinkel family. The only reason for Daniel to be at Palestinian fair-to provoke and insult. Also make public to attract to his concerts and it was unplausible mention about brother recital in Hanover. Shameful marketing.

      • James says:

        I don’t know Daniel Gurfinkel, but if you’re suggesting that he deliberately went to get the stuffing knocked out of him as a PR stunt, that sounds a silly suggestion. Whether or not he did shout “Israel”, if he was being genuinely disruptive the police would have handled it; if not, and he was engaging in a debate, or even a protest (and I’m willing to bet that there were things that I would have taken issue with in that fair myself) then the people putting on the fair only showed their true colours by trying to lynch him (did you see the guy with real hatred in his eyes, packing a heavy punch to Daniel’s stomach?). At pro-Israel events, you get people yelling things against Israel – they never meet with this kind of response.

      • David says:

        You are disgusting.
        I am a friend of Daniel and the guy just felt horrible after seeing and hearing things such as “Palestine from the river to the sea” and all the hatred there. By the way, on this day hundreds of missles have been shoot on Israel including Daniel’s home city where his parents live. I can’t judge him. Of course it was not the smartest thing to do but who am I to judge?? Who are you to judge?? Doesn’t he have the right to protest against this hatred??
        And for your information, Daniel (And especially his parents) didn’t even want it to get published.
        Shame on you!!!
        And you better delete your horrible comment.

      • David says:

        I am a friend of Daniel and the guy felt horrible after seeing and hearing things such as “Palestine from the river to the sea” and all the hatred there. By the way, on this day hundreds of missles have been shoot on Israel including Daniel’s home city where his parents live. I can’t judge him. Of course it was not the smartest thing to do but who am I to judge?? Who are you to judge?? Doesn’t he have the right to protest against this hatred??
        And for your information, Daniel (And especially his parents) didn’t even want it to get published.
        Shame on you!!!
        And you better delete your horrible comment.

        • Saxon Broken says:

          It looks like both sides believe “their feelings” are the most important thing in the debate which trump any rational argument.

  • And yet Israeli’s and Jews flock to German cities in droves, particularly Berlin. I did too…no more.

    • esfir ross says:

      German government pays for Gurfinkel twins to study at Hans Eisler school and help with their concert career. Why not?

  • Furzwängler says:

    Hermann-Platz? Is that the square that was formerly called the Hermann-Göring-Platz?

    • Fred says:

      No, it isn’t. If you had used Google, it would have taken you about 10 seconds to find out that the square was named after Arminius (Hermann), the chieftain of the Cherusci tribe.

      • Furzwängler says:

        Goodness, and you took the comment seriously.
        Na ja, der deutsche Humor is bekanntlich eine ernste Angelegenheit, nicht wahr.

      • Mephistopheles says:

        Did you read the headline and, if so, did you actually understand that the subject of this article is about yet another apparent assault on someone of Jewish faith in Berlin? Along with attacks on all sorts of other foreigners? Would it be better therefore for Germany to avoid having public places with historically tarnished names like Hermann, Heinrich, Reinhard and Adolf, for example?

        Anyway, just lighten up.

  • He “was attacked after reportedly yelling “Israel” several times at an event marking the Palestinian Nakba, which commemorates the displacement of Palestinians after the creation of Israel, on Saturday in Berlin.”

    I am doubtful about a musician with such poor sense of timing.

    • Ed in, but not of, Texas says:

      Doubtful? In what way, about his musicianship? I find it odd that you identified him as a musician rather than as a person. I don’t think his musical talent can be judged from the situation described. Would you feel differently about him if he was identified as something else, a plumber or a teacher? I agree that as a person of any trade or profession, his words/actions don’t evidence a high level of common sense, given the circumstances in which he placed himself, but are you implying the beating was somehow justified? I hope not.

  • William Evans says:

    If this video is an accurate representation (and that cannot be assumed), then unfortunately Mr Gurfinkel seems to have been the initial physical aggressor.

  • Doug says:

    Leftists–the REAL modern day fascists and NAZIs, rub their hands in glee. They dream of turning all of Israel into another Auschwitz shower.

  • observer says:

    The extreme partiality of the views on both sides expressed here reveal the usual disheartening intractability. How will peace ever be found?

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