Friday, September 02, 2011

"Demonstrators seem to have turned [the] entire audience pro-Israel"




The boorish behaviour displayed by the PSC (members of whom tried to interrupt last night’s Israel Philharmonic Prom) was vigorously countered by members of the ZF - who were there in force.  More than 100 pro-Israel advocates counter-demonstrated outside the Albert Hall and leafleted members of the audience. After the performance the advocates were outside the stage door with Israel flags to say “kol ha’kovod (well done!) to conductor Zubin Mehta and the members of the IPO. This was greatly appreciated by the IPO as was the rapturous reception they received from 99.9% of the audience. 

The PSC yet again foolishly “shot itself in the foot” with Culture Minister Ed Vaizey tweeting "Demonstrators seem to have turned [the] entire audience pro-Israel". 
The demonstrators were greeted by boos from almost every member of the audience when they triesd to protest, and were drowned out by the orchestra as the music got louder and were then removed by the venue security. 

The ZF advocates waved flags and held banners saying
 
 CULTURE BRINGS HOPE, BOYCOTTS BRING HATE  
 and
 
SUPPORT CULTURE, SUPPORT DEMOCRACY, SUPPORT ISRAEL

 Alan Aziz, Chief Executive of the ZF said “It is a disgrace that people who do not want to understand Israel’s challenges choose to obsessively try to disrupt cultural and educational events in the UK. The ZF’s presence here tonight was to counter this ignorant and ill-conceived protest. We will always be there to counterIsrael hate and we thank all our allies last night - especially our Christian friends - for supporting Israel”.  The performance will be broadcast again on the BBC on 7th September at 14.30. 

 The Zionist Federation thanks StandWithUsUK and the British Israel Coalition for helping advertise the pro-Israel demonstration, and attending. 

Further Comments: 
Inside working hours:  stefan@zfuk.org / 020 8202 0202
Outside working hours:  urgent@zfuk.org & stefan@zfuk.org
The ZF always have a range of spokespeople available for comment. 

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