10 September 2025

We, the undersigned, who celebrate mutual respect across different disciplines, who regularly collaborate and who draw inspiration from one another, and who value peace and reconciliation over conflict and division, are appalled by the Ghent Festival of Flanders morally bankrupt decision to cancel the Munich Philharmonic’s planned concert with conductor Lahav Shani on September 18th. This decision, as the City of Munich has already rightly declared, is nothing short of an attack on fundamental European and democratic values.  

Whereas the Concertgebouw’s misguided rationale for cancelling the Jerusalem String Quartet concerts of May 2024 was based ostensibly upon safety concerns for their staff and audience, what we are now seeing is no longer about security; instead the Ghent Festival has chosen to punish an artist on the basis of his nationality alone. What is more insidious is the  implication that any artist, Israeli or otherwise, will only be accepted if they express unequivocally the “correct” opinions.

We call on this decision to be reversed with immediate effect, and for the values of dialogue and openness to be upheld. This decision will do nothing to save a single Palestinian life, bring a hostage home, or to make any improvement to the unbearable civilian suffering currently taking place in this conflict.  It will, however, resonate loudly with those who equate an artist’s nationality with an excuse to exclude them from the cultural sphere. 

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Danny Driver

Mahan Esfahani

Joshua Weilerstein

Kyril Zlotnikov