A music festival in Belgium has cancelled a planned concert by a celebrated German orchestra over concerns about its Israeli conductor’s stance on the war in Gaza.

The Flanders Festival Ghent said on Wednesday that it had cancelled the Munich Philharmonic’s scheduled performance on September 18 due to a lack of “clarity” about the views of its incoming conductor Lahav Shani.

While Shani had spoken in favour of “peace and reconciliation” in the past, his attitude towards the “genocidal regime in Tel Aviv” was unclear given his role as the chief conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the festival organisers said.

“Given the inhumanity of the current situation, which is also leading to emotional reactions in our own society, we believe it is undesirable to allow this concert to go

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