Overview

• Flanders Festival Ghent withdrew the 18 September concert, citing Lahav Shani’s position with the Israel Philharmonic and a lack of “clarity” about his stance toward a “genocidal regime.”
• Organizers said they acted on calls from Ghent’s culture minister, city council and cultural sector and aimed to preserve the festival’s calm and the concert experience.
• The City of Munich and the orchestra condemned the decision as collective punishment, with Mayor Dieter Reiter calling it incomprehensible.
• Culture State Minister Wolfram Weimer called the move “blanker Antisemitismus” and said Germany will take the case into European cultural policy discussions.
• Bavarian minister Markus Blume, Jewish leaders Charlotte Knobloch and Josef Schuster, and antisemitism commissioner Felix Klein also condemned the step, with Klein citing Belgian anti-discrimination law and IHRA definitions; Shani remains slated to take over in Munich in September 2026.