September 05, 2005
Israel's education minister has branded conductor Daniel Barenboim ' a real anti-Semite' after he refused to be interviewed by an army radio reporter. The conductor (who is Jewish) was promoting a book he had written with the late Palestinian intellectual Edward Said, but declined to be interviewed by reporter Dafna Arad because she was wearing a military uniform. The Israeli Education Minister, Limor Livnat, said Barenboim was "a real Jew-hater, a real anti-Semite" and that he "lacked sensitivity".
When asked to comment Mr Barenboim said "Anti-Semitic? What is anti-Semitic about it? When I say that a uniform should be worn to the right places and not to the wrong ones, there is nothing anti-Semitic about it, there is no logic to this claim. I just thought that in this place, discussing a book written together with a Palestinian, it shows lack of sensitivity".
Barenboim, who was born in Argentina, has frequently fallen out with the Israeli government. In 2004 he angered officials when he criticized Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in a speech to the country's parliament.
In August 2005 Barenboim brought his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, made up of musicians from Israel, the Palestinian territories and neighboring Arab countries to the West Bank city of Ramallah for a concert in memory of Said.
