BERLIN – Mikis Theodorakis, best known for composing the musical score to the
film
Zorba the Greek, recently declared on Greek television that he was
“anti-Israel and anti-Semitic.” “Everything that happens today in the world has
to do with the Zionists,” was one such comment.
Another was “American Jews are
behind the world economic crisis that has hit Greece also.” Theodorakis also
blasted Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou for establishing closer relations
with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who was guilty, he said, of “war crimes in Lebanon and
Gaza.”
RELATED:2010: Anti-Semitic incidents in UK drop 31% from 2009Germany gives adult rating to anti-Semitic Turkish filmThe 86-year-old composer said in 2003 that Israel “is the root of
evil.”
Kyriakos Loukakis, the Greek ambassador in Israel, wrote in an
e-mail to
The Jerusalem Post on Monday, “I would like to inform you that, as a
matter of principle, we do not comment on opinions of private citizens.
Secondly, the Greek government has always opposed extreme views. Thirdly,
relations between Greece and Israel are very friendly.”