Barenboim, Israel, Palestine — and MBN 2025

Dear Colleagues,

Daniel Barenboim has served as music director of the Berlin State Opera, the Chicago Symphony, the Orchestre de Paris, and La Scala in Milan. A quarter of a century ago, Barenboim started the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a Seville-based group made up of young Arab and Israeli musicians.

In 2008, Barenboim explained in an interview in The Guardian that “Divan is not a love story, and it is not a peace story … It’s not going to bring peace.” Rather, the renowned pianist and conductor insisted, “it is absolutely essential for people to get to know the other, to understand what the other thinks and feels, without necessarily agreeing with it.”

Arabs have denounced Barenboim as a “Zionist.” Israelis have condemned Barenboim as a “Jew hater” and “real anti-Semite.”

Here’s Barenboim accepting Israel’s Wolf Prize — an award celebrating achievement in the arts and science — including a sharp exchange with the chair of the Prize’s committee.

I debated Barenboim on German television when I lived in Berlin. The Buenos Aires-born musician speaks English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Spanish — and holds citizenship in Argentina, Spain, Israel, and Palestine. I’ve invited Barenboim to engage with us at MBN.

The Year That Was 

It’s been dizzying, these past months: war in Gaza, war in Lebanon, the collapse of the Assad regime. Martial law was declared in South Korea on December 3 at 10:29 pm— and then rescinded six hours later. Governments in Paris and Berlin collapsed before Christmas.

Romania finished the calendar year in turmoil. An election was annulled after a presidential candidate — emerging out of nowhere, surging in the polls — pledged to get his country out of the EU, into the Russian camp, disengaged from Ukraine, and free of political parties and electoral competition at home.

In November, Americans voted (again) against elites and the status quo. For Trump supporters, Washington is getting its comeuppance; the rule of law stands to be re-established in 2025. Trump critics see dangerous disruption and rising authoritarianism. These are hardly easy times to navigate.

David Blankenhorn has been working across the United States for several years now to get Americans of varying political stripes to listen to one another.

David’s organization Braver Angels promotes respectful exchange with opportunities for people of differing political opinions to restore tolerance, rediscover agency, and return to other bedrock ideas of democratic citizenship. I’ve invited David to visit MBN.

Our Company, Our Region

MBN is a marvel. In 2024, we’ve saved the American taxpayer $20 million through restructuring. Leaner ops, greater impact is the MBN mantra in a new video produced by Fadi Izzaldin and his remarkable creative team.

If you’ve not yet seen it, have a look at this riveting video Fadi and team have created on Syria. It’s jarring. The singer, Mohammed Kamal used to work with us as a senior sound designer.

There’s scarcely been a time when the situation across our region has been in equal parts difficult and hopeful. Following the demise of Syria’s dictatorship, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi scrambled. “My hands … have never been stained with anyone’s blood, and I have never taken anything that wasn’t mine,” swore Egypt’s authoritarian ruler (thanks to colleague Ahmed Aboumeez, our acting director for programs and acquisitions, for his note on this). Dictators are nervous. Iran has now lifted restrictions on WhatsApp.

New leadership in Syria is swearing allegiance to women’s and minority rights. Our colleague Ghalia Bdiwe arrived in Syria from Dubai in time to report on Christmas Eve Mass in Damascus. The Lady of Damascus Church in Syria’s capital filled with all generations holding candles, singing hymns.

MBN’s 2025

There’s progress across our company:

• Billy Sabatini and his colleagues in HR, tech, and building facilities arranged our first Ideas and Innovation Competition. Alongside Billy, Aya Elbaz served as a wonderful cohost of the live event on December 18. Our winners were Soha Rizk; the team of Diana Turecek, Areig Elhag, Han Adams and Albert ‘Bashar’ al Suhaily; Rachelle Alhusseiny; and Amanda Garcia.
• Billy and associates organized a first survey on MBN organizational culture. I’ve been meeting with small groups and am learning more about key issues the survey did not capture. Next up: announcement of priorities for 2025 and a roadmap to mark progress.
• COO Deirdre Kline is back from Dubai. Deirdre keeps giving us a boost in strategic direction and company morale. Social gatherings certainly seem to be appreciated. Connection between headquarters and the field are getting stronger.
• General Counsel Anne Noble worked with finance over the holidays to make sure we move seamlessly into the New Year. I’m grateful to Anne, budget director Gena Kutlubay, acting CFO Raji Kalra and the entire finance team for their hard work. Our new CFO Grant Turner starts on January 13.
• MBN journalism is getting traction. I’m intrigued by the work we are doing. Thanks to Acting Editor-in-Chief Leila Bazzi, Abed Abdullah, Thaer Soukar, and the rest of our crew. Lebanese citizens suing Hezbollah for using civilians as human shields is a remarkable story.
• MBN guest keep streaming in. Coming soon are retired three-star General Ben Hodges, retired four-star General Phil Breedlove, former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman, former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Frank Ricciardone, and former Spanish foreign minister Ana Palacio. We’ve invited the new president of the DC-based Middle East Institute Stu Jones as well. Stu served as U.S. ambassador to Jordan and Iraq.

Barenboim’s Cellist

 Jacqueline du Pré was not at all a creature of politics. Daniel Barenboim’s wife, the great British cellist, would have been 80 this month. Jackie, as friends called her, was stricken by muscular sclerosis, which ended her career at age 28. She died in 1987 at the age of 42. With medical advances made since, she’d still be alive today.

Jacqueline du Pré was known as “Smiley.” When you watch her in videos she’s beaming. When she played, it was as if she herself was composing and creating the music in that very moment, said another. Barenboim said music just poured out of Jackie.

Du Pré studied with Pablo Casals and Mistislav Rostropovich.

Of her playing and collaborative spirit, Barenboim said she was a peerless “musical conversationalist.” Here’s a lovely snippet of the two, starting with the master cellist at the keyboard.

Barenboim and du Pré gave concerts in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, and Beersheba. The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra has performed in Gaza and the West Bank. They’ll play again there one day.

There are striking recollections of du Pré in this tribute. In the years before she died, Jacqueline du Pré devoted herself entirely to teaching. Her job had become rebuilding and serving others, she said. This would not be a bad mantra for MBN.

We have a demanding, exciting, and gratifying year ahead. Thank you all for your tremendous work, creativity, and immense dedication.

With respect, Jeff