Posted by David Bernstein:
"Seven Jewish Children":
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_02_22-2009_02_28.shtml#1235745737
This, new short play opened in London recently, and it's hard to
articulate how depraved it is [1]without reading the full dialogue.
The essential "plot," if you can call it that, is to show how Israeli
Jews, deranged by their suffering in the Holocaust, gradually turn
into alter-egos of the Nazis.
Not surprisingly, [2]the Guardian loved it. The [3]Times did not. The
Guardian [4]also defends the play against [5]charges of anti-Semitism,
because, the author writes, "I cleave strongly to the view that it is
possible to be critical of Israel without being antisemitic." Sure you
can. But it's rather harder to make that defense when you start your
play with parents trying to reassure children caught up in in the
Holocaust, and end with this (including lines that evoke classic blood
libels):
Tell her about the family of dead girls, tell her their names why
not, tell her the whole world knows why shouldn�t she know? tell
her there's dead babies, did she see babies? tell her she�s got
nothing to be ashamed of. Tell her they did it to themselves. Tell
her they want their children killed to make people sorry for them,
tell her I'm not sorry for them, tell her not to be sorry for them,
tell her we're the ones to be sorry for, tell her they can�t talk
suffering to us. 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 I laughed when I saw the dead policemen, tell her
they�re animals living in rubble now, tell her I wouldn�t care if
we wiped them out, the world would hate us is the only thing, tell
her I don�t care if the world hates us, tell her we're better
haters, 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.
That said, whether or not the playwright is anti-Semitic is somewhat
besides the point. The play has many defenders, and one is left to
wonder: if a non-member of any other minority group had chosen to
psychoanalyze that group, implicitly claiming its members deranged and
bloodthirsty because of earlier historic traumas, that they resemble
the Nazis, are indifferent to the death of babies, believe they are
superior to everyone else, etc., would the reaction be remotely the
same?
References
1. http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/files/downloads/SevenJewishChildren.pdf
2. http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/feb/11/seven-jewish-children
3.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article5711419.ece
4.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2009/feb/18/israelandthepalestinians-religion
5.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/3334851/the-royal-courts-mystery-play.thtml
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