Jewish actress loses gig over play

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) -- A Jewish organization in Melbourne canceled a performance by an award-winning Jewish actress because of her participation in a controversial play about Israel.

Miriam Margolyes, a British-born stage and screen star, offered to entertain elderly residents Tuesday at JewishCare, a major facility in Melbourne. But she was told Monday that her appearance may offend some of the residents who are Holocaust survivors because she is scheduled to be the headline act next week in "Seven Jewish Children," a play that has been branded by some critics as anti-Semitic.

“I think they're quite wrong, I would never get involved with anything which was either anti-Semitic or critical of Holocaust survivors,” Margolyes, who splits her time between Australia and Britain, said in a statement issued by Australians for Palestine. “I feel they're making a terrible mistake and I am very sad because I was truly looking forward to appearing there. I support JewishCare in the U.K. both in appearances and with donations. And I will continue to do so.”

The 10-minute play, subtitled “A Play For Gaza,” is scheduled to be staged May 18 during a fund-raiser for Australians for Palestine at the State Library of Victoria. It traces the history of Israel, beginning with the Holocaust and ending with Israel’s recent offensive in Gaza.

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/05/12/1005083/jewish-actress-loses-gig-over-play

yeshua h. christ!

anti-semitic, what is that? Herding palestinians into ghettos that aren't qualitatively different than the warsaw ghetto is anti-semitic.

or inform matters.

Do you also compare other Middle Eastern countries to Nazis, when they exclude Palestinians or keep them in refugee camps long-term?

it does inform matters - and it is quite an apt comparison.

What does NOT inform matters is being told by the self appointed gatekeepers of this saga what is pc to use in a historical comparison. There is NOTHING that is off the table if a valid case can be made to draw a parallel.

Now, schoolmarmery of my semantic usage aside, what specific logical arguments or observations underscore your statement? Remember YOU used the N word, not me.

On a less combative note:

I strongly despise the fact that we are not "allowed" to draw obvious comparisons when merited. Again, I was referring to herding a determined subculture into an enclosed environment and controlling their ability to travel, their access to healthcare and jobs, and their basic human freedoms. I don't care if was Nazis or Pygmies that did it, the comparison is valid. If I were to make my name known and have the strong opinions that I do, I have no doubt whatsoever that someone from the anti-defamation league would take it upon themselves to cause trouble for me at work, would place my name on an internet list, would seek to destroy for having the temerity.

That's my protest and ire in one sentence.

I also think comparing Iran to the Nazis doesn't help.

Using terms like 'Warsaw Ghetto' implies the comparison, even if not made directly.

I think that general comparisons to antisemitism, ghetto-izing, restrictions of job and residence opportunities for Jews in many places in the past actually ARE relevant and appropriate. I've used them myself. But some comparisons are extreme to a point of preventing the issue from being taken seriously.

'herding a determined subculture into an enclosed environment and controlling their ability to travel, their access to healthcare and jobs, and their basic human freedoms'

And that's been done in many situations. To Jews in many situations through the ages; to Palestinians in Lebanon as well as Israel; to the Japanese-Americans and to some extent to 'enemy aliens' in Britain during WW2; to Native Americans over a long period. Etc.

It is always wrong. It is wrong here.

But using exaggerated comparisons doesn't help. That is MY view.

'I have no doubt whatsoever that someone from the anti-defamation league would take it upon themselves to cause trouble for me at work, would place my name on an internet list, would seek to destroy for having the temerity.'

Unless you are in an important policymaking role IRL, I find this hard to believe. Why would the anti-defamation league care what some individual posts on the internet? At most you might get an angry e-mail message from some other individual. But I fully accept people's right to privacy, and don't use my real name on the boards either.

I should add here that one of the reasons that I'm so interested in American politics is that I personally know people who had problems under McCarthyism, and left America as a result, so I am aware of risks from political persecution. But I just don't think anyone has the power or interest in 'destroying' posters on an internet message-board just because they express the wrong views on Israel or Palestine.

The point of context is that the group doing the oppressing was itself oppressed similarly, and notably, and uses virtually the same political arguments that were used then to mollify anyone who thought something might be wrong with the situation. The "N" nazi word holds no specific bugaboo-ness for me, and I also don't believe that Hitler was the human incarnation of ultimate evil, meaning, I don't believe in "evil" either. He was sick and did horrific things - no denying that, but it's not supernaturally bad or a sign of adolescent extremist associative thinking. Just crazy people and our own odd neurochemistry under stress and bad leadership.

While not a policy maker, I do have a notable position and am a leader in my social group - so not completely paranoid. Also I've seen my real name bandied about often enough to know that a grudge on the internet lasts FOREVER, so subtle dig to my incipient paranoia aside, it's also reality. ;)

My 14 year old uncle died in Dachau. My grandfather was incarcerated there twice. I'm not anti-Israeli if there was any thought in that direction, but I AM anti- bad public policy. I do not believe that any state has a "right to exist" based on a religious idea, nor do I believe in "chosen" people, of any faith. I pretty much despise the entire middle east for exactly that reason, but the reality on the ground is, humans live there, in deplorable conditions, and in a cultural context that does not let go of grudges, in fact, perpetually renews them. Israel is, just as any ascendant political state ever was, following war, strife, and oppression. The only regard in which it's notably different than America's idea of eminent domain is that we aren't surrounded by enemies and reliant on a powerful ally for our continued existence.

THEREFORE, Israel has to accept that to survive in the long term, it will have to adapt. It cannot change the world see things from the point of view of bad public policy, not with browbeating, and certainly not with AIPAC interference in the live of policy makers NOR playwrights.

The proof is that some of us are reasonable and clear eyed and not irrationally in support of everything Israeli out of our own culture-of-origin obligations. The proof is that I am certainly going to make the comparison to anything I wish without worrying about whether it triggers an autonomous (and irrational) response of outrage.

You are correct in that if there are other equal (or better) comparisons to make, the better point is made with the less inflammatory comparison, but certainly I will not be influenced by political decorum for the sake of decorum alone.

"that were used then to mollify anyone who thought something might be wrong with the situation"

How so?

it's for our safety. We have no other choice. We are the true (fill in the blank, aryans, chosen people, whatever)

So people who thought it was a little creepy to round up their neighbors and friends justified it to themselves. I don't think people who tacitly go along with it are Nazis. I think they're victims of their own unwillingness to believe anything really bad is happening so long as it's for their own good, it's for everyone's safety, there really is no other choice, they're not real Poles, Germans, Romanians, or in this case "Semites".

Oh, yeah, and color me dark cynical.

from a (mainstream) Israeli source justifying Israeli actions against the Palestinians on the basis that the latter are untermenschen. Or, for that matter, on the "for their own good" claim.

And re the "our own security" issue, let's not ignore that the Palestinians have indeed been carrying attacks against civilians inside Israel (and said attacks predate 1967, or even 1948). I was unaware the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto were attacking people in Warsaw.

Do you care to share them?

I do not agree with the decision to cancel her appearance. I am curious to know how the decision was reached and by whom. I cannot imagine that many (or any) of the residents there would have objected to her entertaining them. It is encouraging to hear her say that she will continue to support the facility in spite of the cancellation.

I would also add that I find response #1 to the OP to be thoroughly disgusting.

I don't care for the play but I care for censorship and punishing artists even less.

You're right, the first response is digusting.