Groen chairman Aimen Horch is calling for a cultural boycott after it was recently announced that the Brussels arts center Bozar will program Lahav Shani next season. He is chief conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. “This is completely inappropriate,” Groen said in a press release.
Source: Belga
“It is time for an unequivocal cultural boycott, as we want with Eurosong. There is no place for cultural ambassadors of a regime that commits genocide and wages illegal wars without any liability,” Horch said.
According to Horch, it is not correct that Shani would not act as a representative of Israel. As chief conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, he is closely connected to the Israeli government and the army, says Groen. “Soldiers played in the orchestra, others received free tickets. Shani himself described the orchestra as ‘ambassadors of Israel’.”
Hetze
Shani was banned from the Ghent Festival of Flanders last year. That caused a controversy at home and abroad.
Bozar director Christophe Slagmuylder told ‘De Standaard’ that discussions with the Munich Philharmonic and Shani had been going on since the beginning of 2025. “That is months before the situation in Ghent arose.”
