MONTREAL — Quebec Jewish Congress (QJC) has denounced a short play that is to be presented in Montreal in the strongest terms, calling it anti-Semitic and hateful.
Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza by English dramatist Caryl Churchill is scheduled to make its Canadian debut in English and French on May 3 at the Espace Geordie, under the sponsorship of Independent Jewish Voices Montreal (IJVM), a group that is critical of Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories and treatment of the Palestinians.
“QJC is very disappointed that the play is being staged here,” said incoming president Adam Atlas. “We think it is anti-Semitic and full of hatred… It culminates with a depiction of Jews as ghoulish, bloodthirsty and heartless killers.
“On top of that, there is the implication that Jews have a long history of lying to and indoctrinating their children, which is shocking.”
As the son of a Holocaust survivor, Atlas said he is personally offended by the play’s early scenes in which a parent or other adult relative is apparently preparing a young girl to leave Europe for a new life in Israel. “Tell her, of course tell her, tell her everyone was driven out and the country is waiting for us to come home… Don’t tell her who used to live in this house… don’t tell her Arabs used to sleep in her bedroom.”
The play unfolds entirely as if a Jewish adult is equivocating between what to tell a child about the Jewish presence in Israel and relations with Arabs in order not to frighten them. That desire to protect the young descends into a frantic effort to whitewash what is too unpalatable even for the grown-up to face head on.
The play, whose script is readily available on the Internet, depicts Jews who emigrated to Israel as self-righteous and with a strong sense of entitlement to the land. They have a condescending, dismissive attitude toward Arabs.
As the scenes reach into modern times, Israelis are depicted as repressive and brutal, but still claiming the moral high ground.
By the end, there are inflammatory lines such as, “Tell her they want their children killed to make people sorry for them… Tell her we’re the iron fist now, tell her it’s the fog of war, tell her we won’t stop killing them till we’re safe… Tell her they’re animals living in rubble now, tell her I wouldn’t care if we wiped them out.”
The play culminates with “[T]ell her we’re the chosen people, tell her I look at one of their children covered in blood and what do I feel? Tell her all I feel is happy it’s not her.”
Atlas thinks the play trivializes the Holocaust and amounts to Holocaust revisionism “by it’s not-so-subtle” parallel between the Jewish tragedy and Israel’s military action in Gaza this past winter.
He is concerned the play will only reinforce the views of those who already do not like Jews. The fact that Seven Jewish Children is being presented by a Jewish group does not mean that it can’t be described as anti-Semitic, he said.
QJC, however, is making no attempt to block the production here, nor has it contacted the IJVM to express its disapproval.
Seven Jewish Children, which runs about 10 minutes, had its premiere in February at London’s Royal Court Theatre, amid considerable controversy. The Board of Deputies of British Jews accused Churchill of being “anti-Israel,” while the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland termed it “a modern blood libel.”
Sixty well-known British Jews published a letter in the Daily Telegraph saying the play reinforces “false stereotypes” about Jews.
Churchill, 71, who lived with her family in Montreal for a while after World War II, attending the private Trafalgar School, is associated with the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign.
The play was mounted in March at the Washington, D.C., Jewish Community Centre, but only after Ari Roth, artistic director of its Theatre J, had to defend his decision to opponents in the community. He also modified the program by adding two pro-Israel plays and a panel discussion.
The Montreal production is directed by Rose Plotek, who teaches drama at York University’s Glendon College. There is an intention to bring Seven Jewish Children to Toronto at some point.
Devora Neumark, speaking for IJVM, doesn’t deny the play is “difficult,” but she rejects labelling it anti-Semitic. “As the mother of two children, I know how challenging it is to know what to tell and not tell them. This play is about how we pass information on to the next generation.
“It also is asking us as a society to talk about difficult questions. Art is there to push buttons and boundaries. This play promotes a dialogue in which we can investigate our ethics.”
Neumark said she wouldn’t hesitate to bring her 16-year-old daughter, but that’s because she has visited Israel and the Palestinian territories with her mother and has an understanding of the situation.
The staged reading at Espace Geordie will be followed by a discussion period. The event is co-sponsored by Teesri Duniya Theatre, which in 2007 presented My Name is Rachel Corrie, which critics viewed as one-sided Israel-bashing. Other sponsors include Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights and Medical Aid for Palestine. Entry is free, but a collection will be taken for the latter organization’s work in Gaza.
