Tuesday, September 2, 2008
I always tell my activist friends...don't piss off the regular people. It's a sign of utter fanaticism when you find yourself doing things like this:
PROTESTERS who interrupted a concert by Israeli musicians five times yesterday sparked outrage - but the audience for the recital, by the Jerusalem Quartet as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, responded with a standing ovation.
The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign claimed to have struck a blow against a group they claimed were "cultural ambassadors for Israel".
Five Scottish protesters stood up, one after another, at the concert in the Queen's Hall to disrupt the performance, denouncing "Israeli army musicians", before being bundled out and arrested. The group campaigns for a cultural boycott of Israeli.
But the audience yesterday rallied to the musicians - two of whom are members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, established to promote harmony between Israeli and Arab musicians and cultures. Some tried to silence the protesters or drown them out with clapping.
Hugh Kerr, formerly the MEP overseeing the European Parliament's music policy, was at the concert. He said: "I am a long-time supporter of Palestinian rights, as I suspect were many in the Queen's Hall this morning. However, the effect was totally counterproductive."...
Of course, on their own lists, the heroes of the concert jihad are congratulating themselves on a job well done, but all this really achieves is a warning to ordinary Jews not to be complacent.
