'Zorba the Greek' composer: I’m anti-Semitic

Theodorakis says "everything that happens today in the world has to do with Zionists"; "US Jews behind Greek economic crisis."

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
Zorba the Greek soundtrack 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Zorba the Greek soundtrack 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
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 film
The 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.”