Fear Turns to Joy at Carnegie Hall
Gorgeous Sunday afternoon with hundreds of people in excitement lining up on the corner of Seventh Avenue and 57th Street in New York City were welcomed with threats and fear by a group of Anti-Israel protestors with slogans that reminded some of the 30’s of Berlin. Loud screams and marching band music were spewing hate as people were trying to retrieve their tickets and enter Carnegie Hall to hear the Israel Philharmonics and Itzhak Perlman. Only the cries of the violin can calm the nerves and distress the audience had to endure to enter the world’s most prestigious concert hall. NYPD carefully watched the crowd and separated the protestors from the line, however they allowed them on the same side of the street to get in “punching range” with each other. Some of the yells were so tense that it was shocking that no one lost their tempers. The fine line between freedom of speech and freedom to marginalize Jews are blurred by our laws and law enforcement. No permission should be granted by our municipal government to threaten peaceful music lovers on the same corners to be yelled at as if they are representatives of an African Apartheid State murdering innocents. Why we would never see Nazis on our Avenues but allow fundamental Islamists to join forces with the most unlikely and illogical group on the left making a mockery of human rights and anti-discrimination activism? Is the PR of terrorism so much better than the PR of Western Democracy? Is the draw of human rights of one group above all the starving children of Yemen, Syria, Somalia etc.? Shouldn’t activism protect the innocents from the endless barrage of terror groups like ISIS, Hamas, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, Al-Jama’a, Al-Aqsa, Al-Shabaab, Hezbollah, Harkat Majahadeen attracting millions of Jihadists looking to destroy all western Civilizations including Christians, Atheists, Jews and even Muslims who don’t conform? Why would our own government put us New Yorkers in danger by allowing them the proximity to an apolitical event and its audience? Even if we were to claim that they are not Jihadists they are “only” leftists, didn’t we see Antifa protestors turning violent in our major Cities? Would the Milan Scala allow this insult on its audience? Would the African-American communities tolerate this type of threat by the KKK or any of their enemies within our country? These insults must be stopped by law enforcement before they could turn violent or attract naïve college kids thinking they are helping a cause. Tchaikovsky and Between would have never thought that ~200 years later their audiences would have to be scared to enter a concert hall to listen to their wonderful concertos. Only the world-renowned Israel Philharmonics with conductor Yoel Levi and Itzhak Perlman can enhance the moods of a large group of culture loving Jews experiencing the lowest and highest mankind has to offer.
Gabi Barat
