Never at a loss for new ways to reinforce his image as an absolute ass, Daniel Barenboim pushes the envelope.
Conductor Daniel Barenboim elicited angry responses Sunday night from President Moshe Katsav and Education Minister Limor Livnat after he sharply criticized Israel's policies toward the Palestinians.
Barenboim, speaking at the Knesset where he received the Wolf Foundation Prize, said "With pain in my heart, I ask today whether a situation of conquest and control can be reconciled with Israel's Declaration of Independence? Is there logic to the independence of one people if the cost is a blow to the fundamental rights of another people? Can the Jewish people, whose history is full of suffering and persecution, allow itself to be apathetic about the rights and suffering of a neighboring people? Can the state of Israel allow itself to indulge an unrealistic dream whose meaning is an ambition to bring an ideological resolution to the dispute, rather than the aim of attaining a pragmatic, humanitarian solution, based on social justice?"
This is the same Daniel Barenboim who has no problem allowing himself to be apathetic to the suffering and sensitivities of Holocaust survivors by insisting on conducting Wagner in Jerusalem in violation of Israeli public policy. This is the same Daniel Barenboim whose close collaborations with "good friend" and rock-thrower Edward Said earned him accolades from such disparate sources as NPR and Electronic Intifada. The same Daniel Barenboim who finds it morally satisfying to commiserate with the Arab victims of Israeli self-defense while spitting on the Jewish victims of Arab terrorism.
And he was being honored in the Knesset with the Wolf Foundation prize why? Oh, yes. Because he's " . . . a person of profound musical and humanitarian commitment, who has distinguished himself as one of the great musicians of our time."
Such a talent. Such an ignoramus. Such a shame.
