Michael Barenboim: ‘What we are seeing in Gaza is a terrible crime’
OrchestrasThe son, a violinist, is more outspoken than his father in an interview with BR:
MB: As classical musicians, we can’t really change the reasons for Israel’s attacks and for the starvation of the population. But we can do something. We are now collecting money for Medico International, who, with the help of partners – in Gaza, for example, the Palestinian Medical Release Society – are doing really important work for the population there. And yes, I think there should be more of it. I think many of our colleagues could also get involved in it.
BR-KLASSIK: Why is that missing?
MB: There are several reasons for this. Firstly, there is the feeling that it could be controversial. That it could have consequences for one’s career, meaning that one would get fewer concert invitations. Or that one might be criticized in the press because, of course, unlike in other conflicts, it actually happened. Or that one might be accused of being a terrorist sympathizer or an anti-Semite. Or of being a self-hating Jew. These are all things that I have been accused of, and they are not just made up. And that means that the risk of doing something is much higher. Of course I understand that not everyone wants to take this risk, but I still think it is important that we do something with this initiative to keep the issue on the agenda and in people’s consciousness. That what we are seeing in Gaza is really one of the terrible crimes of our time. And that we don’t just ignore it.
More here.
Yeah, well when you murder 900+ people, shooting them in the head, point blank with a military rifle, and cut off their hands, it ain’t gonna end well.
But we overlook the long-standing extreme abuses that led them to such rage and which would be an important factor in discussions that lead to peace.
Who is the “you” in your statement? The 37,000 dead in Gaza all were culpable in an action perpetrated by an authority that was elected before half the population was born?
About half were perpetrators. Many of the others, their “helpers” (including those who hold hostages”).
For some reason you neglected to include a link to a site that might offer some data in support of what you postulate here. The reason, of course, is that you have no data to support it.
Same argumentation like the Germans when WW2 started to become unfavourable for them. ”Why are you bombing us? Not all of us voted for this party!”
Interesting other parallel to WW2 is, how it started with enemy forces perpetrating an alleged attack across the border, with said enemy forces being a construct in their enlarged dimension and paid for by the Ultra-Zionists around Netanjahu…. Ah sorry, my keyboard malfunctioned, I meant by the fascists around Hitler.
Many Germans believed for a long time, the attack on the radio tower in Gleiwitz was a genuine enemy attack.
I hope we all do remember, that Netanjahu has said even publicly, that Hamas is very useful for the Ultra-Zionist agenda…
I once met Kurt Vonnegut, and asked him if he regarded as war criminals those who planned and carried out the Dresden raid, which he lived through and inspired his masterpiece “Slaughterhouse Five”. His response was very interesting. He said that at the time, it was possible to believe that, by destroying German industrial capacity and damaging civilian morale, the “strategic bombing” (as it was euphemistically called) would shorten the war, and by the grotesque calculus of warfare save more lives than were incinerated in the bombs.
After the war, research concluded that the bombing had no significant effect on German industrial production and morale, Vonnegut pointed out. Still, a generation later, we employed the same tactic against North Vietnam. “The guys who decided to bomb the Vietnamese—those were the war criminals,” Vonnegut told me.
Can the Israeli bombing and invasion of Gaza be justified in terms of self-defense? To make this argument, I think the Israelis owe the world a plausible scenario whereby the attacks on Gaza will lead to a result that will ensure Israel’s inalienable right to live in safety. Has anyone seen such a scenario offered by Netanyahu or somebody in his regime, where the Gaza attacks will somehow lead to this?
What exactly is the cause-and-effect chain of events whereby the Israelis imagine the war in Gaza will accomplish their aims? If there isn’t one, then how can you possibly justify killing thousands of women and children?
15,000 dead terorists should make the world a safer place.
If killing bad guys got you where you want to go then the US would have won glorious victories in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Unless you plan to truly perpetrate genocide, which I do not believe is a fair description of the Gaza campaign, at least yet. Yes, if all the Palestinians are dead, then Israel will have “won”.
Nevermind your leftist faux-Pacifist viewpoint. Israel has no choice but to dismantle Hamas. This will ensure the safety of the Nation State of the Jewish people and the IDF are in turn doing the world a favor. Make no mistake about it, we already have seen Hamas operatives on our college campuses. The scourge of Anti-Semitism is very real and the solution must start with the eradication of the idealogy of Islamic jihad. You also should know that the more forward thinking civilized Arab nations are not in favor of this sick mentality. Why dont you scream louder for the release of hostages and surrender of the terrorists? Why is your criticism solely leveled at the ones who were attacked? Who hide amongst civilians and are prepared to sacrifice every last Gazan to advance their jihadist beliefs?
The calls in Israel to “destroy” Hamas are easy to empathize with, after the hideous events of October 7. But I find myself reminded of our own “War on Terror” after 9/11. It turned out that you cannot “win” a war on terrorism, which is, after all, a tactic, not a sovereign nation. Nor, I would argue, can you “destroy” a political/social/military entity, in which much of the leadership doesn’t even live in Gaza. The conditions that created Hamas will be there as long as there are desperate thwarted young men living in Gaza, and it is hard to see how the cycle doesn’t repeat itself even if every Hamas fighter is killed.
Does Israel plan to emulate our disastrous attempts to occupy and administer Iraq and Afghanistan? Do they imagine that any regime that they install there will have a shred of legitimacy in the eyes of the population after they impose it?
As I say, Israel owes the world a plausible scenario whereby the carnage they are perpetrating results in them accomplishing their aims.
And by the way, I love those who dispute the numbers from the Gazans. OK, it’s not 37,000. Maybe. So maybe it’s 20,000. How much better would that make you feel if one of those dead was a woman or a child you love?
Thirty-seven thousand? Reliable Hamas figures again? Even the BBC has debunked the numbers, and that’s saying something.
One atrocity does not, in ANY way, justify another. All the monotheistic creeds have the concept of loving God in common and, by extension, also one’s neighbour. Pity i’s followed mainly in the breach!
Why do some people make this lazy argument? So you will pay for the sins of your parents, grand parents, grand grand parents, grand grand grand parents etc. then, I assume? We can go all the way back to the dawn of humanity and blame them for something that’s happening 10,000 years later. Absolutely inane logic by people who have a feeble mind that cannot handle any cognitive dissonance whatsoever. Simply take responsibility for the actions that are occurring now instead, got it? One attack does not justify a retaliation of 38,000 deaths, on top of torture, starvation, and other war crimes. These crimes also do not justify the attack of October 7th, do you follow me? This is called logic, and I hope you learned something today for a change.
Your logic is rather fuzzy, David, from “Biblical” guilty to who is torturing who. If the Palestinians were to release all the hostages, the war would end very quickly.
That’s not true. The Palestinians would still live in a dire ghetto (Gaza), half of which is in ruins now, without any hope for an independent state and future. We all know that Hamas was built up to what it became by forces around Netanjahu. It was those ultra-zionist extremists inside Israel, who found Hamas useful as an antagonist against the other Palestinian authority (in the west bank). Divide and conquer. Old as mankind. As useful to Netanjahu was the Oct. 7th attack on the radio tower in Gleiwitz, errr…. sorry, I meant on the music festival close to the border.
Compare Israel to Nazi Germany, and pretend that october 7th was somehow an Israeli provocation. What’s next? Do you need justification to hate the Jews?
You are a bigoted, hateful creep. The current situation in Gaza is the fault of Hamas only. The war could have ended already with the release of hostages and surrender.
Clearly you love Hamas and hate Jews. I loathe your type. Only get incensed when its Israel defending itself. Go soil yourself in the pigpen, bigot.
Dear Jewelyard,
Your absolutely correct. Only an ignoramus or a disingenuous write would blame the poor conditions in Gaza on Israel. Hamas received billions of dollars in international aid and Israel provided work permits to thousands of Gazans. And what did Hamas do? Not build public infrastructure; not develop an economy based on commerce, not educate their children; but instead invested in terror tunnels and acquiring enough weaponry to supply a mid-size country. They are the authors of their own woes!
Tunnels which they refuse to use as air raid shelters for their people.
No starvation ‘ even the UN said so. No “retaliation” either. Killing 15,000 Hamas fighters in battle is no “murder”, it is war.
Good for him!
Not so very famous son of a very famous father, working for the orchestra founded by his father, living mostly in Europe and the classical music bubble, showing solidarity with the far left pro Palestinian student protests in Berlin. Have checked his interviews for comments on Hamas or terrorism in general or the hostages held in Gaza, but until now without success.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!
But 7 of October isn’t a crime right Micha ? …says the privileged European that wouldn’t last 1 day in a Arab district of Berlin …
Where did he say that? You need to work on your reading comprehension before even contemplating voicing your “opinion”
Enough words, thank you
The day I or really anyone would give a flying f$$$ what Michael Barenboim thinks about Gaza, or anything consequential, pigs will start to fly.
Now, he is welcome to go to Gaza and spend some time there, helping the “innocent Palestinians.” Or maybe his father, having such powerful influence as a wannabe “Palestinian”, through his connection with Said, can try to prevail upon Hamas to release the hostages and surrender arms.
Then Michael Barenboim wouldnt need to defecate from his mouth about the “Israeli war crimes.” Ridiculous. And disgusting.
Your comment makes no sense whatsoever. Both Hamas and Israel have committed war crimes, and stating this fact is not “ridiculous” or “disgusting”. If you are having delusional thoughts and difficulty accepting reality and facts, I suggest you go see a therapist and stop defecating delusions from your mouth
You are a bigot if you think Israel has committed war crimes, in response to a war that was perpetrated upon them. If Israel wanted to, they could have annihilated the whole shithole of Gaza. You make no sense whatsoever but clearly you come from a bigoted background. Much love, go get some help.
This all started decades ago thanks to Israel, Jewelyard. 5,000 wrongs don’t make a right. Nettin-yahoo should face a war crimes tribunal.
It’s not bigotry to understand the historical and humanitarian significance of the Hague and Geneva conventions, and the international humanitarian laws that they codified. It’s rather a simple question of literacy to be able to follow what violates those laws, and Israel has been rightly condemned by the international court and multiple international institutions for their war crimes. To deny this is a sign of delusional hysteria. Your logic amounts to “you started it, so we can do whatever we want”, which is definitely not true in any case, anywhere in the world. Please go back to middle school and redo your education, and this time, do your homework
Where to start here. First, YOU do your homework, you Jew-hating bigot. Your interpretation of the Geneva convention is only one that suits your bigoted narrative. The ICC?? Ha! Lets get real. Its not a real court. Their “rulings” provide a platform for Jew haters like you to spew your “Israel is committing genocide” bigotry. There are no war crimes being committed by Israel – I know that is a difficult pill for bigots like you to swallow. The IDF have gone to great lengths to their own detriment to protect the safety of civilians. Israel does not want to see one innocent life lost in the crossfire. What other army sends text messages and other forms of communication to advise that they plan to strike? Think hard, you learned it in middle school most likely.
I feel sorry for you and others of your ilk who have sided with Islamist jihadism. Sleep well, bigot.
Once again the Zionist culture has sinned against YHWH…no forgiveness here!…pays to be Roman Catholic…
He has nothing to lose. His career is not important, it is in his imagination.
“Career”….
He should not concerne himself, this will further his career: What is more likebale than a Jew that sides with the enemy?
It is not pro Hamas to be horrified by the carnage in Gaza. Indeed, the continued attacks on civilians probably strengthens Hamas. If Bibi has worked out a scenario whereby the horrific destruction will somehow result in a stable and peaceful status quo, he somehow neglected to share it with his military. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cekkz82gnzgo
There is no evidence, indeed no real rationale being offered, that continuing the military operation at this point serves any purpose beyond forestalling elections that Netanyahu is highly likely to lose.
Considering the rule of Hamas over the people of Palestine, we should applaud Israel’s efforts as the only nation willing to fight this barbaric terrorist regime in an effort to not only protect Israel but ultimately help the Palestinian people be free.
Those of you who see this as Israel vs Palestine are basing your emotional responses on headlines and superficial memes, as well as the distorted and false numbers given by Hamas and/or reported by the news organizations Hamas sleeps with.
Israel has all the power, and manages to restrain itself quite effectively. Netanyahu has made some errors but he has not sought to slaughter innocent people.
Hamas raped babies, it kills innocent people left and right, and it uses its own people as human shields, while Hamas leaders sit by pools at gold-plated mansions elsewhere in the Middle East, siphoning the very funds Western nations give to Palestine year after year. Neighboring Muslim countries are doing nothing to help the Palestinians; they benefit from these tensions.
This is Israel vs Hamas and I can only hope that Israel annihilates its enemy. No Israeli wishes harm upon an innocent Palestinian.
If it’s Israel versus Hamas why don’t they defeat Hamas? All they’re doing now is just blowing up buildings and people.
Because Hamas imbeds itself in hospitals, schools, and in areas with lots of innocent people. This is one reason why Israel sends SMS messages and other signals to people in the area the IDF will target Hamas.
Again, you will not find an Israeli who wishes harm upon any innocent Palestinian. In these ‘woke’ times, it’s trendy to support Hamas but deeply misguided.
Hamas can release the hostages it’s held captive since October—this would certainly help end the conflict. It may not be possible to end Hamas any time soon, especially when activists are marching for a genocide against the Jewish people in the streets of New York when they parade around supporting Hamas and its ideals; if they attempt to be any letter of LGBTQIA in Hamas territory they’d promptly be thrown off a building, as Hamas typically does.
Settlements dwellers do not admit that there is such a thing as an “innocent Palestinian.” The problem (in optics) with the Israeli actions in Gaza is that they make it look as if the Israeli government thinks the same way.
If somebody swore to kill me for years, no matter what, I wouldn’t be calling them ‘innocent. Some other name, but not ‘innocent’.
Boycott Qatar airlines as they play host to Hamas terrorists.
He goes totally against what the west eastern Divan stands for and of course also the Barenboim-said academy.. his father must be proud!!!
I just watched a news reel of paramilitary police shoving orthodox Jewish people to the ground. This is deeply unsettling even if in Israel. If they can’t be free to practice and uphold their religious beliefs even in Israel, where can they possibly go? I think this is another example of how war makes us crazy and why many Jewish people are making quite legitimate criticisms of the political climate in Israel, including Michael Barenboim.
Orthodox are fighting to avoid serving in the army and at the same time eating up a huge share of the war-depleted budget. They themselves believe in the idea, perhaps, but their leaders benefit greatly from all this. It has to be a great impudence and self-confidence to criticize something about which you have little understanding. Sometimes being just an average violinist is still better than speaking dishonestly, highlighting some facts and completely keeping silent about others…
Tragically Israel is going 90 MPH down a dead end street…again…gynecide can not be tolerated in a modern society…
The fervent religious of Hamas blow themselves up, the fervent religious of Israel resist fighting.
Marie Le Pen thanks you from the bottom of her heart, Misha! It is people like you who will bring the right extremists and neo-Nazis to power in the end…
Strange logic you argue with, when he speaks out against a war (and civil) criminal, who is also a right wing politician in Israel: Netanjahu. How is he then helping right wing fascists (like Netanjahu or Le Pen) when he speaks out against them?
I’ll try to explain: According to many, the views and actions of the current European leaders, and they are similar to the views of Michael, lead to a huge catastrophe because they see aggression not where it actually is, but always from the opposite side. This also applies to the problem of Islamic extremism in Europe and, of course, the war in Gaza. People like Barenboim modestly keep silent about the fact that the attack on 7.10. carried out not only with money from Iran and other Arab regimes, but also with money from Europe and America, which was naturally given for other purposes. Netanyahu himself was in favor of flooding Gaza with money, thinking that the more there is, the quieter it will be… Likewise, Europe pays for Muslim emigration, thinking that the better it is for them to live in Europe, the calmer they will be. This is a terrible mistake and many are looking for politicians who can stop it. Unfortunately, many see Le Pen as the right candidate for this, and in Israel many have gone much further to the right of Netanyahu for the same reasons…
Your argument collapses like a card house, if you were acknowledging the inconvenient truth.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/16/world/europe/israel-hamas-money-finance-turkey-intelligence-attacks.html?
https://www.politico.eu/article/israel-funded-hamas-claims-eu-top-diplomat-josep-borrell/
His father is at least a musical genius. What’s his excuse ?
What about his criticism to Hammas? Who get billions of Dollars/Euros and instead trying to build a proper place to live and give the people hope and a life, they spend it on tunnels that costs billions and don’t give a cent to the people! And on top of it use them as human shields!! NO SHAME!!!
Look up the Jewish culture in the Bible under the city JERICHO…no one has/is gone to court…The Zionist can not handle the situation…too many innocents are dying!
Hamas is a terrorist organization. They want to destroy Israel. On Oct 7 they killed more than 1000 innocent people. No soldiers, but innocent people, many of them young people who had been celebrating a party. Israel has every right for any actions to make such a terroristic, barbaric act impossible by destroying Hamas. If Hamas uses the Palestine people as human shield, Hamas is responsible for the killing of them. As long as Hamas held hostages, Hamas is responsible for the loss of thousands of innocent Palestine lives. It is not the blame of Israel, it is the blame of Hamas AND the blame of the Palestines themselves who elected a gang of terrorists as their leaders. It is quite similar to the situation of Germans during Nazi time 1933-1945. Like Germans were too coward and too blind to free themselves of the Nazis and finally needed the help of the Allies, mourning the loss of 100thousands of German lives – not to mention the loss of much more lives of people of other countries -, to get rid of the Nazis, the Palestine people are too coward and too blind to free themselves from the Hamas and need the help of Israel to get rid of the Hamas regime to finally find peace. This has caused and will cause the loss of many lives and they will need something like a Marshall plan from the UN to build up a new infrastructure.
Of course, as soon as possible, Israel needs to get rid of Netanjahu, who is a populistic, angry old man, never looking for peace, but constantly sowing hatred. I fully understand the anger of the suppressed Palestine people, but that is no excuse for the violence of Oct 7. Israel needs a new government which is looking for peace with the Palestine people and the Arab countries around them.
Your funny….and delusional…
Your grammar is off!! “You’re” is a contraction of you are. Your is a pronoun of ownership. Your dog. You’re not going to visit Israel for your holiday.
All under the guise of freedom of speech.
What is frightening is the indifference with which the term anti-Semitism in Germany is lumped together with a pro-Palestinian attitude.
The current situation in Gaza should certainly be viewed in a more differentiated manner and not offered as a springboard for radicalization in both directions outside the actual location of these terrible events.
The Gazans celebrate death and murder, they have always done that, therefore they had democratically chosen a terrorist gang as their leaders. It is in their culture, based upon an extremist interpretation of their religion, and hence their stubborn support for their ‘government’ that has declared that also deaths of their own people is necessary when they kill others. Media in the West overlook this underlying idiocy. Their posturing as victims of Israel is insane, they are victims of their own culture.
Extreme opinion? Just listen to what they have to say themselves:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn-L3J_j00M
You’re one of the few with the chops to tell it like it is.
The question is very simple: is the killing of tens of thousands of innocent Gazans, including many children, normal? Isn’t that a war crime?
If it is a crime – and it certainly is – to kill more than a thousand Israelis on October 7, why isn’t it a crime to kill nearly forty thousand Palestinians? The fact that Israel is a democratic country with an elected government, a parliament and a flag is not a mitigating factor but an aggravating factor. Any civilized person, which I hope to be, was horrified by the massacre of October 7th and is now horrified by the one perpetrated by Israel in Gaza, which still continues and must be stopped. For anyone to suggest that Michael Barenboim is a modest musician, benefiting from his father’s fame, is disgusting.
No, it’s not a simple question!!!
Because you place all the blame for the deaths in Gaza on Israel. It’s easy, it’s clearer to morons, if Israel bombs, then it’s their fault. Who is it bombing? For what? How else to destroy the huge terrorist army that is hiding itself in the hospitals and schools. After all, everyone understands that Israel is capable of ending Gaza in 2 days without losing a single soldier. Why isn’t this happening? Why do soldiers go there, fight terrorists and die? It is right that fewer Palestinian children and women die. And you all have a “simple question” – the Jews are to blame for everything. And you will not understand anything until what happened in Beeri and Nova happens to your children, and after that you are unlikely to understand, because your “question is simple”…
“And you, dear Violist, will not understand anything until what happened to tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza happens to you and your children. I am not anti-Zionist, the majority of Israelis have the same opinion as me about Netanyahu and his actions
This has already happened to Israeli children, the difference is that Israel is trying to protect its children, and Hamas is hiding behind its children. Everyone knows this and you know it. I am also anti-Netanyahu, but he did not start what is happening in Gaza and he will not finish it. And when he will disappear from politics, Hamas will not stop wanting to destroy Israel. And you know this too…so what does Netanyahu have to do with it??? What will change if he is not there? Will there be peace? Will Iran calm down? You know all this, you know how it all started, you know about the hostages and the tunnels. About the hospitals and schools from which rockets are launched at Israeli children. And at the same time you continue to talk all this nonsense… and who are you after that??? Actually, like Barenboim…
Speaking, or acting in relation to, the truth, whether it be
condemning the IDF’s war crimes, or refusing to be jabbed with a bioweapon, is a risky business; one can lose one’s job, one’s “friends” or the love of one’s family.
Fear of being an anti-Semite = Allowing the Jews do whatever they want