The Central Council of Jews in Germany on Thursday condemned a decision by a Belgian music festival to withdraw an invitation for the Munich Philharmonic and its chief conductor, Lahav Shani.
"Anyone who excludes and discredits an artist on the basis of their nationality or Jewish religion is trampling on the values of our free and democratic constitutional order," the council's president Josef Schuster told dpa.
A statement by the Flanders Festival Ghent published on Wednesday said the cancellation was based on Shani's role as music director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Munich Philharmonic had been scheduled to perform on September 18 at the festival.
Festival organizers said on their website that there was not "sufficient clarity" about Shani's stance toward the Israeli government, and so the musicians were disinvited.
Schuster criticized Ghent cultural officials for backing the decision.
"The argument that the 'serenity' of the festival must be preserved sends a disastrous signal: Jewish or Israeli artists apparently have to justify themselves politically before they are allowed to participate in cultural life," he said.
In their statement, festival organizers had said: "Given the inhumanity of the current situation [in Gaza], which is also leading to emotional reactions in our own society, we believe it is undesirable to allow this concert to go ahead."
"We have chosen to maintain the serenity of our festival and safeguard the concert experience for our visitors and musicians."