BBC rejects radio version of anti-Israel play
The BBC has declined to broadcast a made-for-radio version of a London play on Israel's history on the grounds that broadcasting the play would compromise the BBC's impartiality.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".The play, called Seven Jewish Children, had a 'short' run at London's Royal Court Theatre.
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".
By the way, as an aside, go to the Guardian's Middle East home page and note the list of countries from which it carries stories. Note which country is missing. Hmmm. The only surprise here is that the bias is so blatant.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:08 PM
7 Comments:
I very rarely link directly to my own posts in comments - but the Jewish community has either completely ignored this or seems to either think this is acceptable.
The JCC in Washington, DC does not agree with the BBC - and J Theater, an organization under the auspices of the JCC, is actually putting up a production of this play.
http://tinyurl.com/dxgvfv
I don't understand what some Jews see in a vicious anti-Israel play. Where is the self-respect?
LB,
I am not surprised at anything the JCC in Washington does in the theater since they allowed Sandra Bernhard to appear there.
It seems I expected too much from a JEWISH Community Center, I'm still in shock though. How this is allowed to go through with an uproar in the Jewish community, I just don't understand.
LB,
I assume you meant without an uproar from the Jewish community, and that is indeed a good question. It needs to be put to the community's leaders - both rabbinic and lay.
"Jewish Leaders", this seems to be a contradiction in terms.
Carl, yes, that is what I meant (careless typo on my part). I'm horrified, that lay leaders actually have an active part in this example. Yes, l'havdil, but did Mein Kampf have a Jewish publicist?
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