Barenboim & Berlin Philharmonic In Iran?

Miri Regev: "Look! I'm telling you! Its True! Elvis is alive. 

He works in this fish 'an chip shop in Scunthorpe."

Rumours are strange things and can quickly grow out of hand. Take the following: Barenboim is to take the Staatskapelle Berlin, along with Chancellor Angela Merkel (exactly what the poor Iranians have done to receive the latter is not precisely  defined - again depending on one's source) to Iran in either September, October or some other month. He may also , or instead, be taking an number of other German orchestras - once again depending on who you read. This particular rumour first gained legs over at the always entertaining, recommended but never the most reliable slippedisc.com and from there has grown expedentially.

Now, we are not saying it isn't true but only no one of worth has confirmed it.  However, that has never stopped a politician from getting excited or making odd statements on facebook (don't these people have advisers?).

Take Miri Regev, Israel’s culture minister. She is outraged! On Facebook she wrote yesterday, “Daniel Barenboim, a citizen of Israel, will perform in Iran together with the Berlin Philharmonic. Daniel Barenboim’s concert in Iran hurts Israel’s efforts to prevent the nuclear agreement and boosts the delegitimisation (sic) efforts against Israel,” she added.

That this is nothing but a rumour seems of no interest to her. That Barenboim holds four citizenships nowadays, Argentine, Israeli, Spanish and Palestinian and lives in Berlin seems to be of  equal unimportance. That the Berlin State Opera is on holiday and thus can't say anything,  that the Vienna Philharmonic has denied having anything to do with it and that at present Barenboim has nothing to do with the Berlin Philharmonic is all equally of unimportance.

But this is not the first time that Ms Regev has made either odd or offensive comments. After all it was Israel's "culture" minister who said all artists where "tight asses". Or perhaps most offensively compared  African migrants to Israel as a " cancer in our body,”. That, sickeningly, this echos Hitler's description of the Jews as ""racial tuberculosis" in "German lungs" also seems to escape her. 

EDIT: It has just been announced that the Berlin State Opera has pulled itself off of the beach to  briefly  say that it is at least, "...in talks with Iran about a possible concert in Tehran by the Staatskapelle Berlin," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has agreed to take over the patronage of the concert, if it goes ahead,  as he "supports Daniel Barenboim's dedication to making music accessible to all people, irrespective of national, religious or ethnic boundaries,".

It appears then, that Elvis is not working in a "Fish an Chip shop" in Scunthorpe but possibly a takeaway in Small Heath in Birmingham (England) .