Following uproar, Dutch concert venue reinstates Israeli quartet concert

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.