Calling out Daniel Barenboim on the Israel boycott

In today’s JC, I publish an open letter to Daniel Barenboim on his latest shift on the Middle East, announcing a qualified support for the BDS movement which calls for the economic and intellectual isolation of the state of Israel. What Daniel said was: ‘‘I think the boycott movement BDS is absolutely correct, its perfectly right and necessary with one limitation…’ You can read the full text here.

I believe he has crossed a Rubicon, a point of no return. Among other things, I remind Daniel:

In a maestro milieu where most music directors look no further than the fourth horn, you stuck your neck out for a prickly cause that was always bound to earn you more heartache than acclaim.

I applauded your gumption, your physical courage and your personal commitment to Israel, where you continue to maintain a home. You talked to me once, in Paris half a lifetime ago, of your idyllic boyhood in the young state of Israel, where girls wore no lipstick and men no ties. Something of that naked idealism, that transcendence of spiritual values over material display, is imprinted on the artist you became – one of the foremost classical interpreters of our time, perhaps the only one who commands the attention of world leaders when you speak on great issues of the day….

Read the full letter here.