Mehta: Arab Spring may be upbeat for Israel Philharmonic (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – Indian-born conductor Zubin Mehta is touring the world with the Israel Philharmonic celebrating its 75th anniversary and his 50th with them, but what he'd like to do is add more Arab capitals to the repertoire.

Mehta, who is the same age as the orchestra which gave its first concert in 1936, said as he prepared to conduct a concert at the BBC Proms in London on Thursday night that the Arab Spring has thrown up new challenges, and new opportunities, for Israel and his Philharmonic.

"One wonderful thing is nobody is blaming Israel for anything that is happening in those Arab countries -- usually it is always Israel's fault," Mehta told Reuters in a telephone interview from Israel a few days before the Proms concert.

"I hope Israel takes advantage of the new regimes to come close to them and that the new regimes will also try to make a detente with Israel."

And does that possibly include a role for the Israel Philharmonic, as a musical ambassador of the Jewish state?

"We have scaled so many artistic heights but also on the political spectrum we went to India and China 15 years ago when diplomatic relations were resumed...we went to the south of Lebanon and played in 1982," Mehta said.

"This orchestra has done things that other great orchestras don't have to do, thank God, but because we find ourselves in this corner here we have to take part in the ebb and flow of the life of the country. Hopefully we will play music very soon in Amman."

Or Tripoli? "Who knows? ...yes."

Here's what else he had to say about what it's like working with an orchestra for half a century, his thoughts on having been involved in starry projects like "The Three Tenors," and why his band is still the best at bringing out "the Jewishness" in Mahler.

Q: What is it like, working with an orchestra for half a century?

A: "I have given more than 3,000 concerts with this orchestra. it would be an understatement to say I feel at home with them. The orchestra is now 100 percent chosen by me...the group that plays now has been handpicked by me. I am very, very happy and comfortable with them and it is nice to come to London after a few years now."

Q: What are you looking for when you fashion the Israel Philharmonic to your needs?

A: "The priority is flexibility, flexibility in the sense that they play music that encompasses about 400 years. I can't ask from the orchestra that they play everything with the same sound, or with the same sense of style. When we play Mozart we have one style and one sound, when we play Debussy it is a certain kind of sound and style. When we play Mahler it is obviously the same thing. The flexibility within the orchestra is so incredible that I can put any style in front of them and after of course rehearsing -- you can't get away from rehearsals -- the result is quite astonishing."

Q: Speaking of Mahler, the late Leonard Bernstein, who was a guest conductor of the Israel Philharmonic and recorded some Mahler symphonies with them, said of the orchestra that it was able to bring out the "Jewishness" of Mahler's music unlike any other. How come?

A: "Although Mahler was converted (to Christianity), especially in his early works the 'Jewishness' was huge, it came out of his pen...And the orchestra does that naturally. Every bar of Mahler they make it sound Jewish -- that which is Jewishness in Mahler, the folk songs, the folk tunes he uses from his youth, of course we play with the understanding of that Central European pathos."

Q: You've been involved in some very high profile musical events over the years, including a long stint as music director of the New York Philharmonic, conducting concerts by The Three Tenors, the New Year's concert in Vienna. What gives you a kick these days?

A: "Yes...but we have a great many new recordings with the Israel Philharmonic that one can get over the Internet or our website. We record those at concerts so they are live recordings as we are very proud of those new recordings."

(Zubin Mehta conducts the Israel Philharmonic with Gil Shaham as soloist in the Bruch Violin Concerto at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Thursday night)

(Writing by Michael Roddy, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Glenn Beck rallies for Israel near Jerusalem holy sites (Reuters)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – On the fringes of Jerusalem's most volatile holy sites, conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck declared his support for Israel Wednesday at a rally showcasing fundamentalist Christian backing for the Jewish state.

Beck's "Restoring Courage" event, in an archaeological park Israel has built in an area of Jerusalem it captured in a 1967 war, has stirred little interest among most Israelis, who are unfamiliar with the controversial right-wing commentator who is an outspoken critic of President Barack Obama.

But Beck's visit to Israel, where he was accompanied by evangelical Christian preachers, has been followed with trepidation by American Jewish critics, Israeli left-wing activists and Arab legislators who cautioned that he could stoke tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.

"In Israel you can find people who will stand against incredible odds, against the entire tide of global opinion, just because it's right, just because it's good and just because it's true," Beck told an adoring audience of some 1,700 that included leaders of Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank as well as right-wing Israeli politicians.

Beck said the event, held in Jerusalem's walled Old City, was beamed to more than 1,400 venues in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America where Christian supporters of Israel held viewing parties.

Israeli security was tight around the East Jerusalem site, described by Beck as "the throne of God," adjacent to Judaism's Western Wall and the sacred plaza known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary. No violence was reported.

A Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000 after then-Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the compound, which houses Islam's al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock shrine and where two biblical Jewish temples once stood.

About 30 protesters from the anti-settler group Peace Now that was opposed to the rally held up placards nearby with signs reading "Go Beck Home," among others.

Beck warned his audience with his powerful rhetoric of impending dangers around the world.

"The world needs courage more than ever before ... you don't really have to be a prophet to know that things aren't really going that well. The threats are mounting and evil is growing, darkness is falling. Far too many politicians are just too willing to look away," he said.

Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, a claim that is not recognized internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem, annexed by Israel after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, as the capital of a state they aspire to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel withdrew settlers from Gaza in 2005.

ISRAELI ARABS OBJECT TO BECK

Arab legislators in the Israeli parliament have bristled at the visit of Beck, the former Fox News television host, who called on supporters "to courageously stand with Israel."

One of the lawmakers, Ahmed Tibi, accused Beck of being "motivated by a hatred of Islam." And Americans for Peace Now, a U.S.-based group that supports the Israeli movement, called Beck's East Jerusalem rally an outrage.

"A real friend of Israel would seek to help Israel make peace. No friend of Israel would seek to sow greater enmity between Israelis and Palestinians," Americans for Peace Now said on its website.

Beck has been highly critical of Obama's policies toward Israel, accusing him of betraying Washington's "last strong ally" by proposing that any future peace deal with the Palestinians be based on pre-1967 borders, with mutually agreed territorial swaps.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has clashed publicly with Obama by describing those frontiers at indefensible in an address to a joint meeting of Congress in May, did not attend the Beck event.

But Netanyahu has hailed the "unwavering friendship" of the Jewish state's evangelical Christian supporters. This month, he met 52 Republican and 26 Democratic legislators who visited Israel ahead of the 2012 election in a sign of the bipartisan backing the Jewish state enjoys in Congress.

Some Christian fundamentalists believe the ingathering of the Jewish people to the biblical Land of Israel is a prerequisite for the second coming of Jesus and that the State of Israel is the fulfillment of prophetic scriptures.

Last year, Beck, a libertarian and a favorite of the Tea Party political movement, was a key speaker at a huge "Restoring Honor" public rally, a conservative show of strength, in Washington in the run-up to the 2012 presidential ballot.

But his scathing comments on topics ranging from global warming to political conspiracy theories have proved controversial.

In January several hundred rabbis called on Fox News, which has since dropped his television show over falling ratings, to sanction Beck for repeated use of Nazi and Holocaust imagery and for airing attacks on Holocaust survivor and financier George Soros.

Beck also has a syndicated radio show that reaches 10 million weekly listeners and is heard on more than 400 radio stations across the United States.

Alan Dershowitz, a pro-Israel advocate and a Harvard law school professor who successfully defended O.J. Simpson and other unpopular public figures, said in a blog this week that Beck's willingness to stand up for Israel must be accepted with gratitude.

"I, for one, do not question his motives. I believe they are genuine. One need not accept all of Beck's positions on Israel -- and I certainly do not -- in order to agree with him that support of Israel is one of the great moral issues of the 21st Century," Dershowitz wrote.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Shakira in Israel to promote education platform (AP)

JERUSALEM – Colombian pop singer Shakira promoted her global education campaign with a stop at a joint Israeli-Arab school in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Kicking off Israel's third annual President's Conference on Tuesday with a plea for children's education worldwide, Shakira, a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador, said the Holy Land was the "perfect place to talk about how urgent it is to invest in education."

"The most crucial decision we can make for a better tomorrow is how we educate our children," she said, speaking alongside her host, Israeli President Shimon Peres.

"How wonderful it would be if the world would act like a team. We have so many challenges ahead of us, so many problems to solve," she said. "This is the time to behave like a team, to wear the same T-shirts and to win the match of discrimination, to win the match of inequality and segregation."

Shakira, 34, whose many multilingual hits include "Hips Don't Lie," "Whenever, Wherever," and "Waka, Waka," has established a number of charitable foundations dedicated toward advancing education.

She was born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll in Colombia and has Lebanese heritage.

Shakira began her comments alongside with a single "shalom" — Hebrew for both hello and peace — and after a young girl presented her with a necklace, she said "toda" — Hebrew for thanks.

The previous day, Shakira visited Jerusalem's Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray.

Shakira is accompanied in Israel by her boyfriend, Spanish national football team star and Barcelona defender Gerard Pique.

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Shakira in Israel to promote education campaign (AP)

JERUSALEM – Colombian pop singer Shakira promoted her global education campaign with a stop at a joint Israeli-Arab school in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Kicking off Israel's third annual Presidential Conference with a plea for children's education worldwide, Shakira, a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador, said the Holy Land was the "perfect place to talk about how urgent it is to invest in education."

"The most crucial decision we can make for a better tomorrow is how we educate our children," she said, speaking alongside her host, Israeli President Shimon Peres.

"How wonderful it would be if the world would act like a team. We have so many challenges ahead of us, so many problems to solve," she said. "This is the time to behave like a team, to wear the same T-shirts and to win the match of discrimination, to win the match of inequality and segregation."

Shakira, 34, whose many multilingual hits include "Hips Don't Lie," "Whenever, Wherever," and "Waka, Waka," has established a number of charitable foundations dedicated toward advancing education.

At the Max Payne "Hand in Hand" School in Jerusalem, Shakira heard Jewish and Arab students sing songs and even performed part of her "Waka, Waka" dance, made famous at last year's World Cup in South Africa.

Born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll in Colombia, she has Lebanese roots. This is her first visit to Israel.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Shakira said she had great respect and love for the people of Israel.

"I'm very proud of my Lebanese heritage ... but it has nothing to do with the fact that I respect and have great affection for this country and the people of this country, both Israelis and Palestinians, and that's why I'm here, because I think that kids need us — kids don't understand about conflicts," she said.

Shakira said her experience in developing countries and charitable foundations persuaded her that investing in future generations was the answer.

"I am convinced that the road to peace has to be traveled hand in hand with education because that is the only way perhaps that we are going to achieve global stability and peace," she told the AP.

Shakira was the most high-profile international guest to take part in Peres' third annual "Israeli Presidential Conference" — an event that attracted 1,700 figures from outside Israel.

The diverse guest list ranged from U.S. comedian Sarah Silverman to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The three-day event focuses on "the issues of tomorrow — in Jewish life, in world affairs, in Israeli development, in all domains — science, technology, politics," according to Peres.

Shakira began her comments alongside Peres with a single "shalom" — Hebrew for both hello and peace — and after a young girl presented her with a necklace, she said "toda" — Hebrew for thanks.

The previous day, Shakira visited Jerusalem's Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray. Shakira was accompanied in Israel by her boyfriend, Spanish national football team star and Barcelona defender Gerard Pique.

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