https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=109411219164348
Dear Mayor Johnson
We write as a group of music-loving Londoners concerned with community cohesion - which is one of your responsibilities.
As you will be aware, the Proms performance on 1 September by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra was repeatedly interrupted by anti-Israel demonstraters. The vast majority in the Royal Albert Hall booed and shouted at the demonstraters and Radio 3 was forced to abandon its transmission. Thus both concertgoers and BBC licence fee payers were cheated of the wonderful concert they were entitled to listen to, from one of the world’s greatest orchestras.
We regard their actions as a form of ‘cultural terrorism’. Just as in terrorism, attacking a cultural event is asymmetric: it takes much less effort, money and intelligence to disrupt many people's daily lives than it takes to enrich them.
The cultural terror was not only an attack on music lovers. It was in particular an attack on London’s Jewish community which was at the Albert Hall in force to listen to the orchestra. Many in this community have personal links to Israel, all have cultural, religious and other affinities to Israel, the world’s only Jewish state and a refuge for all Jews from antisemitism.
The demonstraters are part of a wider movement in the UK to ‘delegitimise’ Israel. It is their fervent wish that the BBC will not invite the IPO back to London because of the potential disruption. If this happened it is London that would be the loser, as shown by the wonderful performance of the Bruch Violin Concerto last night – despite the interruptions – and the rapturous applause of the audience.
We therefore ask you to condemn the disruption of the Proms in the strongest possible terms and to issue a statement saying that the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is welcome in London at any time.