http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0499/990400.html
April/May 1999, pages 90-94
Yehudi Lord Menuhin: A Tribute
A Letter from Ali Abunimah
To National Public Radio, March 12,
1999
Thank you for Dean Olsher's sensitive,
informative and moving tribute to
Yehudi Lord Menuhin, who died today in
Berlin. While Olsher covered much about
Menuhin?s life, I believe that there
was an important omission.
One of the most controversial aspects
of ?his life beyond music? was his
firm, life-long support for Palestinian
rights and outspoken criticism of
Israel?s denial of them. This was a
central theme and it made him a deeply
controversial and sometimes reviled
figure in Israel and the United States,
and is said to be one of the reasons he
decided to move to Britain and take
citizenship there.
Menuhin?s father had emigrated to
Palestine from Russia, in the early
days of Zionist settlement. The
experience turned him into a lifelong
anti-Zionist, and he left Palestine for
the United States, where Yehudi was
born.
Though Yehudi often criticized Israel
in the strongest terms, he did not
inherit his father?s view that Israel
had no right to exist. Rather, he was
committed to peace based on absolute
equality between Israelis and
Palestinians, and travelled to Israel,
even forming close friendships with
such figures as former Israeli
Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek who did
little to advance the cause of equality
in which Menuhin so fervently believed.
This specific cause was as important to
him as ?human rights,? his espousal of
which Olsher mentioned only in general
terms. In 1991, when Menuhin received
Israel?s prestigious Wolf Prize, for
his contributions to music, he
condemned Israel?s occupation of the
West Bank and Gaza at the Knesset award
ceremony, saying, ?This wasteful
governing by fear, by contempt for the
basic dignities of life, this steady
asphyxiation of a dependent people,
should be the very last means to be
adopted by those who themselves know
too well the awful significance, the
unforgettable suffering of such an
existence. It is unworthy of my great
people, the Jews, who have striven to
abide by a code of moral rectitude for
some 5,000 years, who can create and
achieve a society for themselves such
as we see around us but can yet deny
the sharing of its great qualities and
benefits to those dwelling amongst
them.? (Jerusalem Post , May 6, 1991)
The uproar this caused in Israel,
including calls for the prize to be
withdrawn, did not discourage him from
speaking out even more strongly in
terms that would certainly not be easy
for any Israeli to hear. As recently as
January 1998, he deplored what he saw
as growing extremism in Israel. ?Those
who insist on war,? he said ?should
remember that those who want Jerusalem
for themselves alone were always
defeated, because it is a city for
eternity . What?s extraordinary is that
some things never die completely, even
the illness which prevailed yesterday
in Nazi Germany and is today
progressing in that land [Israel].?
(The Guardian, Jan. 23, 1998)
All in all, I would have thought that a
report that mentioned Menuhin?s
interest in ?yoga, mysticism,
alternative medicine, and
vegetarianism,? and underlined the
importance of his Jewish faith, as well
as his involvement in many causes,
could not do him full justice without
mentioning his difficult relationship
to Israel. I have no doubt that
tomorrow morning?s Israeli newspapers
will not make the same omission.
Sincerely,
Ali Abunimah, http://www.abunimah.org
