Seven Jewish Children revisited


May 4, 2009
Richard Kuper

playforgazalogo1On 23 March we carried links to the debate about Caryl Churchill’s play Seven Jewish Children in particular to the Guardian’s Michael Billington (a ‘heartfelt lamentation‘), to the Times (‘straitjacketed political orthodoxy‘) and to Howard Jacobson (‘wantonly inflammatory‘). We also included a link to the full text of the play. Here, now, is a new link – to a video of the play.

The Community Security Trust has weighed in with The blood libel brought up to date written by two CST workers Dave Rich & Mark Gardner. Their article is subtitled “Caryl Churchill’s play Seven Jewish Children resonates with antisemitic tropes, amplified further by the Guardian video”.

Tony Lerman is having none of this; his response is entitled Antisemitic alarm bells: The outcry over Caryl Churchill’s play is rendering the word ‘antisemitism’ meaningless.

The Guardian website also carries links to an earlier exchange between Jacqueline Rose and Howard Jacobson: Jacqueline Rose, Why Howard Jacobson is wrong, By seeking to label criticism of Israel in Caryl Churchill’s play as ‘antisemitic’, his critique feeds the very prejudice it decries (24 Feb); Howard Jacobson: Why Jacqueline Rose is not right, Caryl Churchill’s play is not just bad art, but part of a toxic discourse that masquerades Jew-hatred as denunciation of Israel (26 Feb); Jacqueline Rose: Setting the record straight Howard Jacobson wilfully misrepresents me and my views in his effort to defend his stance on Caryl Churchill’s Gaza play (10 Mar).

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