Zubin Mehta, the Indian-born conductor, is an odd duck. In his world, most everybody hates Israel. This is a world of fashion, political and otherwise. Some musicians actually boycott the Jewish state, ostentatiously. Mehta is not a boycotter. Before the ’67 war, as you know, Israel was pretty cool. But then, it became uncool. And it became really uncool in the early 1980s, with the Lebanon war. Mehta has stuck with Israel through thick and thin: He was appointed conductor-for-life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra — original name: the Palestine Symphony — in 1981.

Just now, he has conducted a concert on the border with Gaza, in honor of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who has been held hostage by Hamas for four years (without a Red Cross visit, unlike KSM and other terrorist beauties). What good would a concert do? Nothing, I imagine, but Mehta showed some cojones. In his world — believe me, I know this world — you don’t conduct concerts for Israeli soldiers. You’re on the flotilla with the “Go back to Auschwitz” people, trying to break the blockade.