The long-awaited attack on Rafah has begun, with Netanyahu vowing to finish the job. At the same time, Xi Jinping is in Paris, to meet with Macron. Is it possible a renewed peace initiative may result? A move in that direction might be aided by listening to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which premiered in Vienna 200 years ago, with Beethoven as a co-conductor. Beethoven’s masterful setting of Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” is dedicated to the idea of universal brotherhood of all mankind, a theme desperately needed to counter the drive to World War III today.
