There is something perverse and masochistic about a self-described "pro-Israel" group going out of its way to lend support to the airing of luridly anti-Semitic propaganda. But that's what happened last month when J Street - the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby - endorsed the performance of Seven Jewish Children, an outrageous, 10-minute screed written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, originally performed in London and now being produced in cities across the US.
Seven Jewish Children draws a direct line from Nazi Germany's mass-murder of European Jewry to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, an old trope in the quiver of rabid Israel-haters. Rushing through 60 years of history, it depicts a group of adults speaking in hushed tones about how they ought to address a Jewish girl who remains offstage.
"Don't tell her they'll kill her," one of the characters says, presumably sometime in the 1940s. Minutes later, transported to modern-day Israel, the adults discuss what they should teach the child about Palestinians: "Tell her they're filth," "tell her they're animals living in rubble now" and so on.
In Churchill's abbreviated history of the Jewish experience, the girl who begins as Anne Frank ends up as Baruch Goldstein-in-training.
"The decision to feature Seven Jewish Children at Theater J," read a statement issued by J Street in the defense of its production by a Washington, DC, Jewish theater project, "should be judged not on the basis of the play's content but, rather, on its value in sparking a difficult but necessary conversation within our community. To preclude even the possibility of such a discussion does a disservice not only to public discourse, but also to the very values of rigorous intellectual engagement and civil debate on which our community prides itself."
IT IS Seven Jewish Children, with its spreading the anti-Semitic blood libel, that "does a disservice to public discourse," not complaints over the propriety of its production (which, by the way, should not be confused with a call to ban it). Would J Street similarly support the production of a play depicting Palestinians as bloodthirsty murderers?
There is something perverse and masochistic about a self-described "pro-Israel" group going out of its way to lend support to the airing of luridly anti-Semitic propaganda. But that's what happened last month when J Street - the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby - endorsed the performance of Seven Jewish Children, an outrageous, 10-minute screed written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, originally performed in London and now being produced in cities across the US.
An scene from the play 'Seven Jewish Children,' which many have deemed anti-Semitic. Photo: Courtesy
Seven Jewish Children draws a direct line from Nazi Germany's mass-murder of European Jewry to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, an old trope in the quiver of rabid Israel-haters. Rushing through 60 years of history, it depicts a group of adults speaking in hushed tones about how they ought to address a Jewish girl who remains offstage.
"Don't tell her they'll kill her," one of the characters says, presumably sometime in the 1940s. Minutes later, transported to modern-day Israel, the adults discuss what they should teach the child about Palestinians: "Tell her they're filth," "tell her they're animals living in rubble now" and so on.
In Churchill's abbreviated history of the Jewish experience, the girl who begins as Anne Frank ends up as Baruch Goldstein-in-training.
"The decision to feature Seven Jewish Children at Theater J," read a statement issued by J Street in the defense of its production by a Washington, DC, Jewish theater project, "should be judged not on the basis of the play's content but, rather, on its value in sparking a difficult but necessary conversation within our community. To preclude even the possibility of such a discussion does a disservice not only to public discourse, but also to the very values of rigorous intellectual engagement and civil debate on which our community prides itself."
IT IS Seven Jewish Children, with its spreading the anti-Semitic blood libel, that "does a disservice to public discourse," not complaints over the propriety of its production (which, by the way, should not be confused with a call to ban it). Would J Street similarly support the production of a play depicting Palestinians as bloodthirsty murderers?
There is something perverse and masochistic about a self-described "pro-Israel" group going out of its way to lend support to the airing of luridly anti-Semitic propaganda. But that's what happened last month when J Street - the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby - endorsed the performance of Seven Jewish Children, an outrageous, 10-minute screed written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, originally performed in London and now being produced in cities across the US.
An scene from the play 'Seven Jewish Children,' which many have deemed anti-Semitic. Photo: Courtesy
Seven Jewish Children draws a direct line from Nazi Germany's mass-murder of European Jewry to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, an old trope in the quiver of rabid Israel-haters. Rushing through 60 years of history, it depicts a group of adults speaking in hushed tones about how they ought to address a Jewish girl who remains offstage.
"Don't tell her they'll kill her," one of the characters says, presumably sometime in the 1940s. Minutes later, transported to modern-day Israel, the adults discuss what they should teach the child about Palestinians: "Tell her they're filth," "tell her they're animals living in rubble now" and so on.
In Churchill's abbreviated history of the Jewish experience, the girl who begins as Anne Frank ends up as Baruch Goldstein-in-training.
"The decision to feature Seven Jewish Children at Theater J," read a statement issued by J Street in the defense of its production by a Washington, DC, Jewish theater project, "should be judged not on the basis of the play's content but, rather, on its value in sparking a difficult but necessary conversation within our community. To preclude even the possibility of such a discussion does a disservice not only to public discourse, but also to the very values of rigorous intellectual engagement and civil debate on which our community prides itself."
IT IS Seven Jewish Children, with its spreading the anti-Semitic blood libel, that "does a disservice to public discourse," not complaints over the propriety of its production (which, by the way, should not be confused with a call to ban it). Would J Street similarly support the production of a play depicting Palestinians as bloodthirsty murderers?
There is something perverse and masochistic about a self-described "pro-Israel" group going out of its way to lend support to the airing of luridly anti-Semitic propaganda. But that's what happened last month when J Street - the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby - endorsed the performance of Seven Jewish Children, an outrageous, 10-minute screed written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, originally performed in London and now being produced in cities across the US.
An scene from the play 'Seven Jewish Children,' which many have deemed anti-Semitic. Photo: Courtesy
Seven Jewish Children draws a direct line from Nazi Germany's mass-murder of European Jewry to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, an old trope in the quiver of rabid Israel-haters. Rushing through 60 years of history, it depicts a group of adults speaking in hushed tones about how they ought to address a Jewish girl who remains offstage.
"Don't tell her they'll kill her," one of the characters says, presumably sometime in the 1940s. Minutes later, transported to modern-day Israel, the adults discuss what they should teach the child about Palestinians: "Tell her they're filth," "tell her they're animals living in rubble now" and so on.
In Churchill's abbreviated history of the Jewish experience, the girl who begins as Anne Frank ends up as Baruch Goldstein-in-training.
"The decision to feature Seven Jewish Children at Theater J," read a statement issued by J Street in the defense of its production by a Washington, DC, Jewish theater project, "should be judged not on the basis of the play's content but, rather, on its value in sparking a difficult but necessary conversation within our community. To preclude even the possibility of such a discussion does a disservice not only to public discourse, but also to the very values of rigorous intellectual engagement and civil debate on which our community prides itself."
IT IS Seven Jewish Children, with its spreading the anti-Semitic blood libel, that "does a disservice to public discourse," not complaints over the propriety of its production (which, by the way, should not be confused with a call to ban it). Would J Street similarly support the production of a play depicting Palestinians as bloodthirsty murderers?
There is something perverse and masochistic about a self-described "pro-Israel" group going out of its way to lend support to the airing of luridly anti-Semitic propaganda. But that's what happened last month when J Street - the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby - endorsed the performance of Seven Jewish Children, an outrageous, 10-minute screed written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, originally performed in London and now being produced in cities across the US.
An scene from the play 'Seven Jewish Children,' which many have deemed anti-Semitic. Photo: Courtesy
Seven Jewish Children draws a direct line from Nazi Germany's mass-murder of European Jewry to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, an old trope in the quiver of rabid Israel-haters. Rushing through 60 years of history, it depicts a group of adults speaking in hushed tones about how they ought to address a Jewish girl who remains offstage.
"Don't tell her they'll kill her," one of the characters says, presumably sometime in the 1940s. Minutes later, transported to modern-day Israel, the adults discuss what they should teach the child about Palestinians: "Tell her they're filth," "tell her they're animals living in rubble now" and so on.
In Churchill's abbreviated history of the Jewish experience, the girl who begins as Anne Frank ends up as Baruch Goldstein-in-training.
"The decision to feature Seven Jewish Children at Theater J," read a statement issued by J Street in the defense of its production by a Washington, DC, Jewish theater project, "should be judged not on the basis of the play's content but, rather, on its value in sparking a difficult but necessary conversation within our community. To preclude even the possibility of such a discussion does a disservice not only to public discourse, but also to the very values of rigorous intellectual engagement and civil debate on which our community prides itself."
IT IS Seven Jewish Children, with its spreading the anti-Semitic blood libel, that "does a disservice to public discourse," not complaints over the propriety of its production (which, by the way, should not be confused with a call to ban it). Would J Street similarly support the production of a play depicting Palestinians as bloodthirsty murderers?
There is something perverse and masochistic about a self-described "pro-Israel" group going out of its way to lend support to the airing of luridly anti-Semitic propaganda. But that's what happened last month when J Street - the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby - endorsed the performance of Seven Jewish Children, an outrageous, 10-minute screed written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, originally performed in London and now being produced in cities across the US.
An scene from the play 'Seven Jewish Children,' which many have deemed anti-Semitic. Photo: Courtesy
Seven Jewish Children draws a direct line from Nazi Germany's mass-murder of European Jewry to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, an old trope in the quiver of rabid Israel-haters. Rushing through 60 years of history, it depicts a group of adults speaking in hushed tones about how they ought to address a Jewish girl who remains offstage.
"Don't tell her they'll kill her," one of the characters says, presumably sometime in the 1940s. Minutes later, transported to modern-day Israel, the adults discuss what they should teach the child about Palestinians: "Tell her they're filth," "tell her they're animals living in rubble now" and so on.
In Churchill's abbreviated history of the Jewish experience, the girl who begins as Anne Frank ends up as Baruch Goldstein-in-training.
"The decision to feature Seven Jewish Children at Theater J," read a statement issued by J Street in the defense of its production by a Washington, DC, Jewish theater project, "should be judged not on the basis of the play's content but, rather, on its value in sparking a difficult but necessary conversation within our community. To preclude even the possibility of such a discussion does a disservice not only to public discourse, but also to the very values of rigorous intellectual engagement and civil debate on which our community prides itself."
IT IS Seven Jewish Children, with its spreading the anti-Semitic blood libel, that "does a disservice to public discourse," not complaints over the propriety of its production (which, by the way, should not be confused with a call to ban it). Would J Street similarly support the production of a play depicting Palestinians as bloodthirsty murderers?
There is something perverse and masochistic about a self-described "pro-Israel" group going out of its way to lend support to the airing of luridly anti-Semitic propaganda. But that's what happened last month when J Street - the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby - endorsed the performance of Seven Jewish Children, an outrageous, 10-minute screed written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, originally performed in London and now being produced in cities across the US.
An scene from the play 'Seven Jewish Children,' which many have deemed anti-Semitic. Photo: Courtesy
Seven Jewish Children draws a direct line from Nazi Germany's mass-murder of European Jewry to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, an old trope in the quiver of rabid Israel-haters. Rushing through 60 years of history, it depicts a group of adults speaking in hushed tones about how they ought to address a Jewish girl who remains offstage.
"Don't tell her they'll kill her," one of the characters says, presumably sometime in the 1940s. Minutes later, transported to modern-day Israel, the adults discuss what they should teach the child about Palestinians: "Tell her they're filth," "tell her they're animals living in rubble now" and so on.
In Churchill's abbreviated history of the Jewish experience, the girl who begins as Anne Frank ends up as Baruch Goldstein-in-training.
"The decision to feature Seven Jewish Children at Theater J," read a statement issued by J Street in the defense of its production by a Washington, DC, Jewish theater project, "should be judged not on the basis of the play's content but, rather, on its value in sparking a difficult but necessary conversation within our community. To preclude even the possibility of such a discussion does a disservice not only to public discourse, but also to the very values of rigorous intellectual engagement and civil debate on which our community prides itself."
IT IS Seven Jewish Children, with its spreading the anti-Semitic blood libel, that "does a disservice to public discourse," not complaints over the propriety of its production (which, by the way, should not be confused with a call to ban it). Would J Street similarly support the production of a play depicting Palestinians as bloodthirsty murderers?
There is something perverse and masochistic about a self-described "pro-Israel" group going out of its way to lend support to the airing of luridly anti-Semitic propaganda. But that's what happened last month when J Street - the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby - endorsed the performance of Seven Jewish Children, an outrageous, 10-minute screed written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, originally performed in London and now being produced in cities across the US.
An scene from the play 'Seven Jewish Children,' which many have deemed anti-Semitic. Photo: Courtesy
Seven Jewish Children draws a direct line from Nazi Germany's mass-murder of European Jewry to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, an old trope in the quiver of rabid Israel-haters. Rushing through 60 years of history, it depicts a group of adults speaking in hushed tones about how they ought to address a Jewish girl who remains offstage.
"Don't tell her they'll kill her," one of the characters says, presumably sometime in the 1940s. Minutes later, transported to modern-day Israel, the adults discuss what they should teach the child about Palestinians: "Tell her they're filth," "tell her they're animals living in rubble now" and so on.
In Churchill's abbreviated history of the Jewish experience, the girl who begins as Anne Frank ends up as Baruch Goldstein-in-training.
"The decision to feature Seven Jewish Children at Theater J," read a statement issued by J Street in the defense of its production by a Washington, DC, Jewish theater project, "should be judged not on the basis of the play's content but, rather, on its value in sparking a difficult but necessary conversation within our community. To preclude even the possibility of such a discussion does a disservice not only to public discourse, but also to the very values of rigorous intellectual engagement and civil debate on which our community prides itself."
IT IS Seven Jewish Children, with its spreading the anti-Semitic blood libel, that "does a disservice to public discourse," not complaints over the propriety of its production (which, by the way, should not be confused with a call to ban it). Would J Street similarly support the production of a play depicting Palestinians as bloodthirsty murderers?
There is something perverse and masochistic about a self-described "pro-Israel" group going out of its way to lend support to the airing of luridly anti-Semitic propaganda. But that's what happened last month when J Street - the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby - endorsed the performance of Seven Jewish Children, an outrageous, 10-minute screed written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, originally performed in London and now being produced in cities across the US.
An scene from the play 'Seven Jewish Children,' which many have deemed anti-Semitic. Photo: Courtesy
Seven Jewish Children draws a direct line from Nazi Germany's mass-murder of European Jewry to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, an old trope in the quiver of rabid Israel-haters. Rushing through 60 years of history, it depicts a group of adults speaking in hushed tones about how they ought to address a Jewish girl who remains offstage.
"Don't tell her they'll kill her," one of the characters says, presumably sometime in the 1940s. Minutes later, transported to modern-day Israel, the adults discuss what they should teach the child about Palestinians: "Tell her they're filth," "tell her they're animals living in rubble now" and so on.
In Churchill's abbreviated history of the Jewish experience, the girl who begins as Anne Frank ends up as Baruch Goldstein-in-training.
"The decision to feature Seven Jewish Children at Theater J," read a statement issued by J Street in the defense of its production by a Washington, DC, Jewish theater project, "should be judged not on the basis of the play's content but, rather, on its value in sparking a difficult but necessary conversation within our community. To preclude even the possibility of such a discussion does a disservice not only to public discourse, but also to the very values of rigorous intellectual engagement and civil debate on which our community prides itself."
IT IS Seven Jewish Children, with its spreading the anti-Semitic blood libel, that "does a disservice to public discourse," not complaints over the propriety of its production (which, by the way, should not be confused with a call to ban it). Would J Street similarly support the production of a play depicting Palestinians as bloodthirsty murderers?
There is something perverse and masochistic about a self-described "pro-Israel" group going out of its way to lend support to the airing of luridly anti-Semitic propaganda. But that's what happened last month when J Street - the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby - endorsed the performance of Seven Jewish Children, an outrageous, 10-minute screed written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, originally performed in London and now being produced in cities across the US.
An scene from the play 'Seven Jewish Children,' which many have deemed anti-Semitic. Photo: Courtesy
Seven Jewish Children draws a direct line from Nazi Germany's mass-murder of European Jewry to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, an old trope in the quiver of rabid Israel-haters. Rushing through 60 years of history, it depicts a group of adults speaking in hushed tones about how they ought to address a Jewish girl who remains offstage.
"Don't tell her they'll kill her," one of the characters says, presumably sometime in the 1940s. Minutes later, transported to modern-day Israel, the adults discuss what they should teach the child about Palestinians: "Tell her they're filth," "tell her they're animals living in rubble now" and so on.
In Churchill's abbreviated history of the Jewish experience, the girl who begins as Anne Frank ends up as Baruch Goldstein-in-training.
"The decision to feature Seven Jewish Children at Theater J," read a statement issued by J Street in the defense of its production by a Washington, DC, Jewish theater project, "should be judged not on the basis of the play's content but, rather, on its value in sparking a difficult but necessary conversation within our community. To preclude even the possibility of such a discussion does a disservice not only to public discourse, but also to the very values of rigorous intellectual engagement and civil debate on which our community prides itself."
IT IS Seven Jewish Children, with its spreading the anti-Semitic blood libel, that "does a disservice to public discourse," not complaints over the propriety of its production (which, by the way, should not be confused with a call to ban it). Would J Street similarly support the production of a play depicting Palestinians as bloodthirsty murderers?
There is something perverse and masochistic about a self-described "pro-Israel" group going out of its way to lend support to the airing of luridly anti-Semitic propaganda. But that's what happened last month when J Street - the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby - endorsed the performance of Seven Jewish Children, an outrageous, 10-minute screed written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, originally performed in London and now being produced in cities across the US.
An scene from the play 'Seven Jewish Children,' which many have deemed anti-Semitic. Photo: Courtesy
Seven Jewish Children draws a direct line from Nazi Germany's mass-murder of European Jewry to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, an old trope in the quiver of rabid Israel-haters. Rushing through 60 years of history, it depicts a group of adults speaking in hushed tones about how they ought to address a Jewish girl who remains offstage.
"Don't tell her they'll kill her," one of the characters says, presumably sometime in the 1940s. Minutes later, transported to modern-day Israel, the adults discuss what they should teach the child about Palestinians: "Tell her they're filth," "tell her they're animals living in rubble now" and so on.
In Churchill's abbreviated history of the Jewish experience, the girl who begins as Anne Frank ends up as Baruch Goldstein-in-training.
"The decision to feature Seven Jewish Children at Theater J," read a statement issued by J Street in the defense of its production by a Washington, DC, Jewish theater project, "should be judged not on the basis of the play's content but, rather, on its value in sparking a difficult but necessary conversation within our community. To preclude even the possibility of such a discussion does a disservice not only to public discourse, but also to the very values of rigorous intellectual engagement and civil debate on which our community prides itself."
IT IS Seven Jewish Children, with its spreading the anti-Semitic blood libel, that "does a disservice to public discourse," not complaints over the propriety of its production (which, by the way, should not be confused with a call to ban it). Would J Street similarly support the production of a play depicting Palestinians as bloodthirsty murderers?
There is something perverse and masochistic about a self-described "pro-Israel" group going out of its way to lend support to the airing of luridly anti-Semitic propaganda. But that's what happened last month when J Street - the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby - endorsed the performance of Seven Jewish Children, an outrageous, 10-minute screed written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, originally performed in London and now being produced in cities across the US.
An scene from the play 'Seven Jewish Children,' which many have deemed anti-Semitic. Photo: Courtesy
Seven Jewish Children draws a direct line from Nazi Germany's mass-murder of European Jewry to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, an old trope in the quiver of rabid Israel-haters. Rushing through 60 years of history, it depicts a group of adults speaking in hushed tones about how they ought to address a Jewish girl who remains offstage.
"Don't tell her they'll kill her," one of the characters says, presumably sometime in the 1940s. Minutes later, transported to modern-day Israel, the adults discuss what they should teach the child about Palestinians: "Tell her they're filth," "tell her they're animals living in rubble now" and so on.
In Churchill's abbreviated history of the Jewish experience, the girl who begins as Anne Frank ends up as Baruch Goldstein-in-training.
"The decision to feature Seven Jewish Children at Theater J," read a statement issued by J Street in the defense of its production by a Washington, DC, Jewish theater project, "should be judged not on the basis of the play's content but, rather, on its value in sparking a difficult but necessary conversation within our community. To preclude even the possibility of such a discussion does a disservice not only to public discourse, but also to the very values of rigorous intellectual engagement and civil debate on which our community prides itself."
IT IS Seven Jewish Children, with its spreading the anti-Semitic blood libel, that "does a disservice to public discourse," not complaints over the propriety of its production (which, by the way, should not be confused with a call to ban it). Would J Street similarly support the production of a play depicting Palestinians as bloodthirsty murderers?
There is something perverse and masochistic about a self-described "pro-Israel" group going out of its way to lend support to the airing of luridly anti-Semitic propaganda. But that's what happened last month when J Street - the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby - endorsed the performance of Seven Jewish Children, an outrageous, 10-minute screed written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, originally performed in London and now being produced in cities across the US.
An scene from the play 'Seven Jewish Children,' which many have deemed anti-Semitic. Photo: Courtesy
Seven Jewish Children draws a direct line from Nazi Germany's mass-murder of European Jewry to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, an old trope in the quiver of rabid Israel-haters. Rushing through 60 years of history, it depicts a group of adults speaking in hushed tones about how they ought to address a Jewish girl who remains offstage.
"Don't tell her they'll kill her," one of the characters says, presumably sometime in the 1940s. Minutes later, transported to modern-day Israel, the adults discuss what they should teach the child about Palestinians: "Tell her they're filth," "tell her they're animals living in rubble now" and so on.
In Churchill's abbreviated history of the Jewish experience, the girl who begins as Anne Frank ends up as Baruch Goldstein-in-training.
"The decision to feature Seven Jewish Children at Theater J," read a statement issued by J Street in the defense of its production by a Washington, DC, Jewish theater project, "should be judged not on the basis of the play's content but, rather, on its value in sparking a difficult but necessary conversation within our community. To preclude even the possibility of such a discussion does a disservice not only to public discourse, but also to the very values of rigorous intellectual engagement and civil debate on which our community prides itself."
IT IS Seven Jewish Children, with its spreading the anti-Semitic blood libel, that "does a disservice to public discourse," not complaints over the propriety of its production (which, by the way, should not be confused with a call to ban it). Would J Street similarly support the production of a play depicting Palestinians as bloodthirsty murderers?
There is something perverse and masochistic about a self-described "pro-Israel" group going out of its way to lend support to the airing of luridly anti-Semitic propaganda. But that's what happened last month when J Street - the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby - endorsed the performance of Seven Jewish Children, an outrageous, 10-minute screed written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, originally performed in London and now being produced in cities across the US.
An scene from the play 'Seven Jewish Children,' which many have deemed anti-Semitic. Photo: Courtesy
Seven Jewish Children draws a direct line from Nazi Germany's mass-murder of European Jewry to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, an old trope in the quiver of rabid Israel-haters. Rushing through 60 years of history, it depicts a group of adults speaking in hushed tones about how they ought to address a Jewish girl who remains offstage.
"Don't tell her they'll kill her," one of the characters says, presumably sometime in the 1940s. Minutes later, transported to modern-day Israel, the adults discuss what they should teach the child about Palestinians: "Tell her they're filth," "tell her they're animals living in rubble now" and so on.
In Churchill's abbreviated history of the Jewish experience, the girl who begins as Anne Frank ends up as Baruch Goldstein-in-training.
"The decision to feature Seven Jewish Children at Theater J," read a statement issued by J Street in the defense of its production by a Washington, DC, Jewish theater project, "should be judged not on the basis of the play's content but, rather, on its value in sparking a difficult but necessary conversation within our community. To preclude even the possibility of such a discussion does a disservice not only to public discourse, but also to the very values of rigorous intellectual engagement and civil debate on which our community prides itself."
IT IS Seven Jewish Children, with its spreading the anti-Semitic blood libel, that "does a disservice to public discourse," not complaints over the propriety of its production (which, by the way, should not be confused with a call to ban it). Would J Street similarly support the production of a play depicting Palestinians as bloodthirsty murderers?
There is something perverse and masochistic about a self-described "pro-Israel" group going out of its way to lend support to the airing of luridly anti-Semitic propaganda. But that's what happened last month when J Street - the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby - endorsed the performance of Seven Jewish Children, an outrageous, 10-minute screed written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, originally performed in London and now being produced in cities across the US.
An scene from the play 'Seven Jewish Children,' which many have deemed anti-Semitic. Photo: Courtesy
Seven Jewish Children draws a direct line from Nazi Germany's mass-murder of European Jewry to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, an old trope in the quiver of rabid Israel-haters. Rushing through 60 years of history, it depicts a group of adults speaking in hushed tones about how they ought to address a Jewish girl who remains offstage.
"Don't tell her they'll kill her," one of the characters says, presumably sometime in the 1940s. Minutes later, transported to modern-day Israel, the adults discuss what they should teach the child about Palestinians: "Tell her they're filth," "tell her they're animals living in rubble now" and so on.
In Churchill's abbreviated history of the Jewish experience, the girl who begins as Anne Frank ends up as Baruch Goldstein-in-training.
"The decision to feature Seven Jewish Children at Theater J," read a statement issued by J Street in the defense of its production by a Washington, DC, Jewish theater project, "should be judged not on the basis of the play's content but, rather, on its value in sparking a difficult but necessary conversation within our community. To preclude even the possibility of such a discussion does a disservice not only to public discourse, but also to the very values of rigorous intellectual engagement and civil debate on which our community prides itself."
IT IS Seven Jewish Children, with its spreading the anti-Semitic blood libel, that "does a disservice to public discourse," not complaints over the propriety of its production (which, by the way, should not be confused with a call to ban it). Would J Street similarly support the production of a play depicting Palestinians as bloodthirsty murderers?
There is something perverse and masochistic about a self-described "pro-Israel" group going out of its way to lend support to the airing of luridly anti-Semitic propaganda. But that's what happened last month when J Street - the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby - endorsed the performance of Seven Jewish Children, an outrageous, 10-minute screed written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, originally performed in London and now being produced in cities across the US.
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