Concerts by renowned pianist Fazil Say in Switzerland are postponed due to criticism of Israel
Fazil Say, a well-known Turkish pianist and composer, claims that the organizers of his performances in Switzerland the next week canceled them because of his social media postings criticizing Israeli policy in Gaza. From Monday through Thursday, Say was scheduled to play with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Zurich, Bern, Geneva, and Lucerne. However, he claims that he was dropped from the lineup of the performances that were scheduled and put on by the Migros supermarket chain’s event division.
On Friday, Say said on his official social media account on X, previously Twitter, “Officials from MIGROS cited the ideas I expressed on the Israel-Palestine tension on my social media as the reason.” According to him, nothing on his social media has changed from what he had previously posted.
Say had been replaced by Swiss pianist Louis Schwizgebel in the musical schedule, a Migros representative confirmed to AFP on Saturday. The business said in a statement given to AFP that Fazil Say’s public remarks after the terrorist act against Israel could not be defended by Migros.
Israeli authorities estimate that at least 1,400 people were murdered when Hamas terrorists broke into Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7. The majority of the victims were civilians who were shot, maimed, or burned to death on the first day of the operation. Prior to its forces regaining control of the attacked region, Israel claims that over 1,500 Hamas militants were killed in battles. According to the most recent death toll provided by the Hamas health ministry in Gaza, more than 4,300 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been murdered across the Gaza Strip as a result of the unrelenting Israeli bombardments launched in reprisal for the assaults carried out by the Palestinian Islamist terrorist organization.
‘I AM FOR PEACE’
Say reacted in one of his comments to a remark made on X by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who claimed Israel was responsible for this week’s missile attack on a hospital in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, “should face trial for war crimes, genocide, and massacres,” Say said.
The pianist also criticized Hamas, stating that “nobody in the world would approve of innocent people being attacked with weapons, thousands of people dying” in a video posted on Instagram on October 13. Atheist Say has already encountered difficulty as a result of his social media postings.
He was charged with blasphemy in 2012 for allegedly attacking Muslims on Twitter, but a Turkish court ultimately found him not guilty of the accusation. The pianist added on Friday, “I am for peace, and all my words were in the spirit of peace. across a statement on X on Saturday, Omer Celik, a spokesperson for Erdogan’s government-aligned AKP party, decried the cancelation of Say’s performances across Europe “because of his ideas opposing Israel’s inhumane attacks” on Palestinians.
