Can we remain neutral in the face of genocide?

Can we remain neutral in the face of genocide?

by Jordi Savall

I come from Spain, a country whose rich culture stems from the presence on its soil of the three monotheistic religions in the Middle Ages: Christianity, Judaism and Islam. This allowed me to understand early on the importance of establishing the links between the past and the present and between all the cultures of the Mediterranean. In my research and musical projects, I have striven to connect with my Catalan and Iberian roots. With my music ensembles, I have attempted to establish a dialogue between these living cultures, the descendants of those that accompanied us for more than eight centuries (711-1492).

While social and political dialogue so often degenerates into terrible disputes, with music I have seen that it is possible to engage in dialogue, to find a means of mutual understanding. To this end, I have worked to bring together musicians from very different backgrounds. As early as 1975, I invited Arab and Israeli artists to join Hespèrion XX to work together on projects based on the music of the Sephardic diaspora. Some years later (2006), we released our album Orient-Occident, a dialogue between Mediterranean, Christian, Jewish and Arab music. In 2008 this collaboration culminated in our major project Jerusalem, City of the Two Peaces, which traces the long history of this city, the sacred centre of the three monotheistic religions.

It has not always been easy to get Jewish and Palestinian, Christian and Muslim, or Armenian and Turkish musicians to play together. However, it was by playing together that we were able to overcome our initial wariness and discover through music that ultimately, as human beings and musicians, we all aspire to beauty, life and communion with others, beyond nationalities and religions. That is why I refuse to consider my words as those of a powerless musician. On the contrary, music shows us the way to dialogue and insight.

However, in the current context of this war of destruction of a people and a country, one may wonder whether this search for beauty through intercultural dialogue is sufficient. Back in February 2009, during the Jerusalem project’s tour of Canada, I denounced the 2008 war in Gaza, stating that: “If we do not accept others, if we deny them the right to exist, it is the end of civilisation. That is what led to Auschwitz. Tragically, even those who suffered Auschwitz do not always realise this, as we have seen from what has happened in Gaza.”

Even Hamas’s unspeakable terrorist attack on 7 October 2023, with its toll of more than 1,200 dead and 250 hostages, cannot justify the Government of Israel’s disproportionate response, the atrocious war that has already destroyed 80% of Gaza’s territory and left more than 65,000 dead. Nothing can justify the use of starvation as a weapon: it is a war crime whose innocent victims are women and children. Beyond Gaza, what is currently happening in the West Bank, which has become a prison where settlers protected by the army run rampant, is also unacceptable.

If the international community and all of us fail to compel Hamas to return all the hostages to their families and to force the current Israeli government to end the genocide of the Palestinian people, then we will all be morally responsible.

As musicians, if we want to be true to our moral principles, this responsibility may require us to make sacrifices, like the great musician Pau Casals, who refused to play in Nazi Germany in 1933 and who, in 1945, refused to give concerts in the Allied countries in protest at their failure to act against General Franco’s regime.

But at the same time, we must always remember that the responsibility of politicians on all sides is not to be confused with that of their citizens, who are often victims themselves. This is why we might question whether the Flanders Festival’s boycott of Israeli conductor Lahav Shani, who sought moderation by avoiding radical statements, is the right decision.

This is a dilemma that requires great sensitivity and balanced judgement, which is precisely what is lacking at a time when emotions are running high, language is exaggerated, subtle nuances are challenged and moderation is criticised. We have become vindictive, angry, carried away by social media, which encourages rashness, petty confrontation and one-sided discourse rather than dialogue.

As soon as we take a stand, we risk being labelled and hijacked by one extreme or another.

We must fight against this polarisation by never losing sight of the human being in political debate. Let us reread Primo Levi’s If This Is a Man, the stories of men who endured the most terrible suffering and who, in the end, teach us that we must give others the right to dialogue, to be listened to, to be forgiven.

But when those responsible for the extreme barbarity in Gaza show no sign of wanting to stop, the unavoidable question remains: ‘Can we remain neutral in the face of genocide?’

Jordi Savall, musician and conductor

This text was written jointly with Maria Bartels, philosopher

Bellaterra, 15 September 2025