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<\/a><\/p>\nPro-Palestinian protesters lit flares that interrupted a performance of the Israel Philharmonic in Paris on Nov. 6, 2025. (Screenshot)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Spectators who bought tickets attempted three disruptions during the concert on Thursday night, twice with smoke bombs, according to the Philharmonie de Paris. The protesters also clashed with other people in the audience and musicians briefly left the stage. Once the protesters were evacuated, the concert resumed.<\/p>\n
Video from the auditorium showed a chaotic scene, with smoke and flames causing some in the audience to scatter and attendees throwing punches at each other without any obvious immediate intervention.<\/p>\n
Criticism had mounted ahead of the performance, with pro-Palestinian activists calling for its cancellation. CGT-Spectacle Union, which represents workers in the performing arts, said in October that the Philharmonie de Paris should not hold the concert without \u201creminding the public of the extremely serious accusations weighing on the leaders of that country [Israel] or the nature of the crime committed in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Philharmonie de Paris said it \u201cstrongly condemns and deplores\u201d the disruptions. \u201cNothing can justify such actions,\u201d the group said in a statement on Friday. \u201cWhatever one\u2019s opinions may be, it is completely unacceptable to threaten the safety of the public, staff and artists.\u201d<\/p>\n
It added that security around the concert had already been \u201cconsiderably reinforced\u201d in conjunction with French police.<\/p>\n
The concert was conducted by Lahav Shani with Hungarian-born pianist Sir Andr\u00e1s Schiff. Shani was scheduled to lead a program in Belgium with the Munich Philharmonic that was canceled by the Flanders Festival Ghent in September. The festival cited a lack of \u201csufficient clarity about his attitude to the genocidal regime in Tel Aviv.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schiff, an outspoken critic of Hungary\u2019s leader Viktor Orban and other far-right movements in Europe, announced earlier this year that he would boycott performing in the United States because of President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cunbelievable bullying\u201d of other nations. He is an artist-in-residence at the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.<\/p>\n
French ministers quickly rebuked Thursday\u2019s events. \u201cI strongly condemn the disruptions that occurred at the philharmonie during the concert of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra,\u201d tweeted Culture Minister Rachida Dati, who had earlier welcomed the touring group to France in an indirect rebuttal of the employees union. \u201cViolence has no place in a concert hall. The freedom of programming and creation is a fundamental right of our Republic!\u201d<\/p>\n
Interior Minister Laurent Nu\u00f1eza also said on X that \u201cnothing can justify\u201d the actions of the protesters.<\/p>\n
But Manon Aubry, a member of the far-left party France Unbowed, refused to condemn the disruptions in a TV interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe general secretary of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra himself acknowledges that he is \u2018Israel\u2019s cultural ambassador to the world,\u2019\u201d Aubry said in a post sharing the clip. \u201cCulture must not serve to promote a genocidal state, and that is the same reason why Russia had been excluded from Eurovision.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Israel Philharmonic recently held multiple concerts in New York City, where protests outside did not interfere with the performances. Earlier this year, protesters shouted pro-Palestinian slogans multiple times during a performance in San Francisco, but the performance continued and there was no violence.<\/p>\n