Within the last 24 hours, some 11,000 people have signed an online letter urging the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to go ahead with two concerts by the Jerusalem Quartet, after the Dutch venue announced Tuesday that the Thursday and Saturday concerts by the Israeli ensemble had been canceled because of safety concerns “due to announced demonstrations, and recent developments surrounding protests in Amsterdam.”
According to classical news site SlippedDisc, more than 250 musicians and well-known artists signed the initial letter before it was released online.
The quartet’s cellist Kyril Zlotnikov, in a Facebook post yesterday, called the decision to cancel the concerts a “capitulation to bullying and terrorism.”
The Jerusalem Quartet, an established string quartet with a 30-year history, last week performed a sold-out show at Wigmore Hall in London.
Amsterdam has seen in recent days a series of sometimes violent anti-Israeli demonstrations and subsequent arrests relating to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The Jerusalem Quartet in an undated photo. (courtesy)
It's not (only) about you.
Supporting The Times of Israel isn’t a transaction for an online service, like subscribing to Netflix. The ToI Community is for people like you who care about a common good: ensuring that balanced, responsible coverage of Israel continues to be available to millions across the world, for free.
Sure, we'll remove all ads from your page and you'll unlock access to some excellent Community-only content. But your support gives you something more profound than that: the pride of joining something that really matters.
Join the Times of Israel Community
Join our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this