Jews' Square commotion

“Nothing anti-Semitic in my speech!”

The 45-year-old philosopher Omri Boehm would have the "Speech to Europe" today

(Bild: Hendrik Schmidt / dpa / picturedesk.com)

The German-Israeli philosopher Omri Boehm will address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his "Speech for Europe" this evening at 7 pm. The fact that the 45-year-old university professor is speaking on Vienna's Judenplatz of all places has caused a stir in the run-up to the event. In the morning, Boehm and Milo Rau, the new Festival Director, hosted a press conference at Café Landtmann.

In his speech this evening entitled "Shadows of History, Spectres of the Present: The Middle East War and Europe's Challenge", Omri Boehm will address the Middle East conflict and its impact on European identity - although he made it clear a few hours beforehand that he did not want to reveal any details of his speech.

Boehm rejected the notion that he was paving the way for anti-Semitism, as Oskar Deutsch had proclaimed as President of the Israeli Jewish Community: "There is nothing in my speech that could be read as anti-Semitic." One could maliciously read his concept of reducing Jewish sovereignty, which presupposes a federal state, as anti-Semitic - which is wrong, but is probably behind the accusations. It remains to be said: "The original idea of Zionism was not Jewish state sovereignty, but Jewish self-determination." The fact that people like Ariel Muzicant, of all people, wanted to suppress free speech was regrettable, as it was an essential prerequisite for the universalism of the Enlightenment in the Kantian sense.

"If eggs are thrown, that is Mr. Muzicant's responsibility", Milo Rau made it clear that any form of violence against guests of the festival was unacceptable. He himself was completely astonished by the reactions of the past few days, as he had actually voted for someone who held more questionable positions when Omri Boehm's name came up for the "Speech to Europe". In the meantime, however, it has become clear: "In a time that is irreconcilable, the reconciler provokes." That is why we naturally stand by Boehm and his speech. It is very regrettable that partners (such as the Erste Stiftung, note) have dropped out due to external pressure.

Rector Misha Glenny, whose Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) is organizing the speech together with the Festwochen, also emphasized with regard to Boehm: "Everything he does involves dialogue. [...] It's the right person in the right place." There is no justification whatsoever for the adolescent accusations of the past few days.