Following uproar, Dutch concert venue reinstates Israeli quartet concert
Cnaan Lidor is The Times of Israel's Jewish World reporter
The prestigious Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam reverses its decision from earlier this week to postpone a concert by Israeli performers over fear of anti-Israel protests.
The Jerusalem Quartet concert planned for Saturday will take place as scheduled thanks to increased security arrangements that ensure that it can safely be held, management says in a statement.
The statement follows plans by members of the Jewish community of the Netherlands to host the Jerusalem Quartet at an open-air concert on a square opposite the Concertgebouw. The initiative was in the final stages of production when the Concertgebouw reinstated the concert, Ronny Naftaniel, a former leader of Dutch Jewry, tells The Times of Israel.
The postponement provoked furious reactions by many Dutch Jews, including Holocaust survivor Salo Muller, who wrote a letter to the Concertgebouw in which he drew comparisons between its decision to not allow Israeli performers to play and the exclusion of Jews in the lead-up to World War II. Leading musicians in the Netherlands also spoke out against the move.
