World-renowned music composer Mikis Theodorakis on Monday addressed a letter to the Central Jewish Council of Greece (Kise) following a statement issued by the latter as regards the cancellation of the performance of his work "Mauthausen" decided recently by the Austrian Parliament.
A Kise statement had underlined that "unfortunately, in recent years, comments made by Mikis Theodorakis such as'"the Jews are the root of evil' and that 'the Jews are responsible for the economic crisis' have brought about surprise and deep regret exactly because Mikis Theodorakis was the co-creator of this extraordinary work."
"Why do you insist in making me an enemy of the Jews?" Theodorakis underlined in his letter, characterising as "big lies" everything attributed to him, while adding that "millions of people in Israel are aware of my love of their country and their people not only because of 'Mauthausen', which is an internationally recognised tribute to the sacrifice of the Jews."
Theodorakis clarified that speaking in an interview he had said that "unfortunately the state of Israel supports the United States and their foreign policy, which is the root of the Evil and, therefore, it is close to the root of the Evil."
He also rejected that he allegedly had stated that he is an "anti-Semite" repeating that his controversial phrase in a television interview was as follows: "I should clarify that I am anti-Semite. Essentially, I love the Jewish people, I love the Jews, I have lived long with them but as much as I hate anti-Semitism, I hate Zionism even more so."
Addressing Kise, Theodorakis stated that anyone can understand that the word "anti-Semite" he used was a mistake made in the course of a long and exhausting interview.
ANA
