The question: is something ignored because it portrays people in a certain way? How extremely difficult it is to disagree with anything Israel does. What if people who disagree want the best for Israel, but believe the stranglehold the country has on the Palestinians is wrong. Can you still care and respect a people but disagree with their actions? Does criticizing the Gaza war and blockade mean a person is anti-semitic?
Think of other situations where criticism comes into play. I do not agree with a number of things that Obama is doing, I don't think he should escalate the war in Afghanistan. I think he should go for single-payer health care. But just because I disagree with him on these issues doesn't mean I despise him.
America has done many terrible things to people. To Native Americans (the Trail of Tears, Wounded Knee), to African Americans (slavery, Jim Crow), to Undocumented Immigrants (raids, separating families, demonizing immigrants) - but that doesn't mean I hate America.
If I disagree with Israel on Gaza, that doesn't mean I hate Israel and Jews. There is a myth going around the world that if people criticize Israel they are anti-semitic. This is absolutely not true. The anti-semites are there, be sure, but they will play the game well and seem friendly and helpful. They will say, yes, kill the people in Gaza. They will smile and then turn away and then say something bad about Jews.
The real friend is one who does not say yes to everything you do.
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Below the Guardian article are links to part I and part II of the play done by a small community group.
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BBC rejects play on Israel's history for impartiality reasons
* Ben Dowell
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 16 March 2009 00.05 GMT
The BBC has declined to broadcast a radio version of Caryl Churchill's controversial new stage play about Israeli history, claiming it needed to remain impartial ‑ the same reason given for declining to air the Gaza emergency appeal.
In a move likely to resurrect the row over the BBC's refusal in January to broadcast the appeal to help the people of Gaza, Radio 4 rejected an unsolicited manuscript of the play, Seven Jewish Children, which recently finished a short run at the Royal Court theatre. BBC sources suggest that a significant factor in the decision was awareness of the controversy stirred by Seven Jewish Children during its theatre run and the fact that the BBC has only recently survived the onslaught of criticism for its refusal to broadcast the Gaza appeal. In an email seen by the Guardian, Radio 4's drama commissioning editor Jeremy Howe said that he and Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer thought Churchill's play was a "brilliant piece".
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...Churchill's 10-minute play consists of seven short scenes in which Israeli adults discuss how they will explain to children, who are never seen on stage, seven key moments in Israeli and Jewish history. This includes the Holocaust, the first Intifada and the present-day bombing of Gaza. According to Churchill, the play explores "the difficulties of explaining violence to children".
In a letter sent to the Daily Telegraph last month a number of prominent British Jews condemned the Royal Court for showing Churchill's play which they said portrayed Israeli parents as "inhuman triumphalists".
Some critics agreed. Christopher Hart in the Sunday Times attacked what he called "the play's ludicrous and utterly predictable lack of even-handedness". However, the Times said the play had "no heroes and villains" and the Guardian's critic Michael Billington said the play "shows theatre's power to heighten consciousness and articulate moral outrage". link to full article
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