JOURNALfor the STUDYof ANTISEMITISM

2011] ANTISEMITISM IN WAGNERIAN OPERA 259
One can only wonder about Livni’s calculations, which enabled him to
say, “It’s time to allow . . .” For some, that time will never be.
BAREINBOIM REDUX
Having touched on Daniel Barenboim’s blind eye to the antisemitism
that is part and parcel of both Meistersinger and The Ring—but that he
denies exists—there are aspects of his Israel bashing that warrant mentioning,
not the least of which is his silence on the matter of anti-Israel
violence.
Barenboim is a first-class musical talent, well schooled, and with technique
and temperament to burn. Those skills are combined with a worldclass
sense of political irresponsibility and gross naiveté. In a recent concert
of Music Without Borders held in Hamastan 21 at the Mathaf Cultural
House, he led an ensemble of musicians from the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic,
the Berlin Staatskapelle, the Orchestra of La Scala in Milan, and
the Orchestre de Paris, saying, “We are playing this concert as a sign of our
solidarity and friendship with the civil society of Gaza,” which he followed
with his wishes for success of the recently signed agreement executed in
Egypt by Hamas and Fatah. While the orchestral players waited late into the
evening before just across the Egyptian border in nearby El Arish, Hamas
officials almost sent the undertaking off the rails because they thought that
the event would somehow be interpreted as a celebration of Osama bin
Laden’s assassination, which the Hamas government had just publicly
condemned.
Global public opinion sees Barenboim as the epitome of tolerance,
though his actions show a distinctly different face. For example, he refused
to take part in Israel’s 60th-anniversary celebrations. And, in 2005, during a
book-signing ceremony (a book coauthored with the late anti-Israel activist
Edward Said), he refused to be interviewed by an Israeli army radio reporter
because the reporter was wearing an IDF uniform.
In 2002, Barenboim performed in Ramallah at the very time that terrorist
groups were launching suicide attacks inside Israel. In 2008, he
became the recipient of a Palestinian passport, an act approved by the former
Hamas-led Palestinian government, and then he pledged allegiance to
an antisemitic entity whose objective is the elimination of Israel.
21. Hamastan is a derogative, newly coined term that merges “Hamas” and
“-stan.” The term, which emerged during the days of Israel’s withdrawal from the
Gaza Strip in 2005, is suggestive of Hamas’ Islamic ideology as well as its political
ties with Iran. Since 2007, the term has been used to refer to its victory over Fatah
in Gaza in the ongoing inter-Palestinian conflict.