On Friday 29 August 2025 Jewish Artists for Palestine disrupted the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms, silencing the orchestra, forcing the performance to restart and bringing the live broadcast on BBC Radio 3 to a halt. With this action we’ve sent a clear message: we reject Zionist funding, censorship and complicity in our cultural institutions.
The Royal Albert Hall hosted the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, who are guilty of:
- Silencing pianist Jayson Gillham for expressing solidarity with Palestine.
- Accepting principal funding from the Gandel Foundation, who are vocal supporters of the genocide in Gaza, and long time associates of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
We also call out the BBC for their ongoing complicity and inability to acknowledge the genocide.
As Jewish artists and cultural practitioners we are calling out and disrupting the BBC, Royal Albert Hall and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s complicity. We call upon all cultural workers to rise up in their own institutions, against Israel’s continued apartheid, genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine.
Photography: Anthony Jarman