Further to the discussion of the playing of Wagner in Israel and the points
of view of Zeev Raphael and Zeev Schor I would like to venture my opinion:

In a liberal and pluralistic society (and we endeavour, not always
successfully, to maintain this in Israel) there must be a very, very very
good reason to enforce a cultural boycott.

Notwithstanding the sensitive issue of the holocaust in Israel I have
always thought that there was no justice for the Wagner boycott.

Especially today with the very close relations between Israel and Germany
in all spheres of life there is absolutely no reason not to play Wagner.

I read that Hitler actually enjoyed Bruckner more than Wagner, so do we
ban music the Nazis loved.  Albeit Wagner became somewhat of a Nazi symbol
but he lived years before the Nazis.  The fact of him being a raving
anti-semite is irrelevant since there were other anti-semitic composers
and this has nothing to do with the actual music.

This issue was presented recently to the High Court of Justice in Israel
and it ruled that there was no justification to ban Wagner's music in
Israel.

David Rothstein
Israel