Pro-Palestinian Protesters in UK Target Performance by Arab-Jewish Ensemble at British Library

Shiryn Ghermezian

A banner calls for a boycott of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at a pro-Palestinian rally in 2025 against the performance of the orchestra with its music director Lahav Shani. Photo: Malin Wunderlich/dpa via Reuters Connect

Pro-Palestinian activists demonstrated outside the British Library in London on Tuesday night in protest of a performance inside the institution by an Arab-Jewish musical ensemble that advocates for building bridges between different communities and cultures.

The protest targeted a concert by Shesh Besh, which was established in 2000 as part of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s (IPO) educational initiative. The ensemble features three musicians from the Israel Philharmonic and three Arab musicians who together play classical Western and Middle Eastern music. They promote “the belief that music is a universal language that connects hearts and has the power to build genuine bridges between peoples,” according to the ensemble’s website. Tuesday’s concert at the British Library on Euston Road was organized by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Foundation UK and was the first time that Shesh Besh had performed in the United Kingdom since 2009. The concert was advertised as an evening for “extraordinary music and shared humanity.”

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) organized Tuesday night’s protest and called for a boycott of the IPO, because of its alleged complicity in Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war and failure to speak out in support of Palestinian rights. The group accused the IPO of organizing the concert as “part of a propaganda campaign that uses music to distract from the horrific realities of Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians and brutal apartheid regime across their historic homeland.” The PSC also claimed it did not object any of the individual musicians in the ensemble, but rather the IPO as a whole.

“Our issue is not with any individual members of the ensemble, but rather the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra itself, which boasts a close relationship with the Israeli military and has not taken any position in support of Palestinian rights, even during this period of genocide,” the PSC said in a statement. The group also criticized the British Library for hosting the performance, claiming that such institutions should support Palestinian efforts to boycott Israeli cultural institutions.

Tuesday’s protest was organized under the slogan “No Genocide Orchestra.” The protesters outside the British Library held Palestinian flags, and anti-Israel signs that read “Stop Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine” and “Stop Israel erasing Palestine.” They also chanted “Free, free Palestine” and “From the sea to the river, Palestine will live forever.”

The Jewish-led grassroots movement Stop The Hate UK organized a counterprotest outside the British Library. Around 50 pro-Israel supporters attended, waved Israeli flags, blasted Israeli music and held signs that read “Stop the Gaza geno-lie.” Unfortunately, Metropolitan Police forced the counter-protesters to stay on a side street where the PSC protesters could not hear or see them, while the anti-Israel protesters were allowed to remain on Euston Road across from the British Library, Stop The Hate UK Co-Founder Itai Galmudy told The Algemeiner on Wednesday. “They made sure to tuck away the Jews and hide them 40 meters away,” he said in a video showing the “Jew pen” where Israel supporters were forced to stand.

“It is just unlawful, and it’s not the first time that Met police has done this,” he told The Algemeiner. “It seems like police willing to do anything they can to supposedly keep the peace but they forget the Jewish people still have rights in the UK.”

Commenting on the PSC protest, the UK volunteer-led charity Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) said: “Apparently even coexistence through music counts as propaganda now.”

“Anti-Israel obsessives have chosen to demonstrate against an event bringing Arabs and Jews together,” CAA added. “The only thing it is likely to achieve is intimidating concert-goers who simply want a good night out. If even a celebration of Arab-Jewish unity is a target, this was never about changing policy – it’s about erasing any connection to the world’s only Jewish state. Once again, the anti-Israel mob reveal their true colors for the country to see.”