Overview

• Flanders Festival Ghent canceled the Munich Philharmonic’s Sept. 18 concert under Lahav Shani, citing his Israel Philharmonic role and claiming no clear stance toward a so‑called “genocidal regime.”
• President Frank‑Walter Steinmeier met Shani in Berlin and called the cancellation clearly antisemitic; Chancellor Friedrich Merz had described it as “blank antisemitism.”
• Berlin cultural institutions organized a short‑notice performance at the Musikfest Berlin in the Konzerthaus on Sept. 15, where Shani and the orchestra received prolonged standing ovations.
• Culture State Minister Wolfram Weimer condemned what he called a capitulation to antisemitism and framed the Berlin concert as a deliberate counter‑signal in support of artistic freedom.
• Bundestag cultural committee chair Sven Lehmann invited Shani to speak later this year as the panel examines antisemitism in the cultural sector and German‑Israeli cultural relations.