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Last update - 06:26 17/05/2009
Liverpool cuts funding for festival that includes 'anti-Semitic' play
By Cnaan Liphshiz
Tags: Israel News, Liverpool 

The city of Liverpool decided last week to cut funding for a cultural festival featuring the highly controversial play "Seven Jewish Children." The move came after the festival's producers rejected the inclusion of a response piece.

Since its February debut, Jewish leaders have condemned "Seven Jewish Children" as anti-Semitic. The play is said to tie the Nazi murder of Jews during the Holocaust with the killing of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel. It also depicts an Israeli's decision to tell a child not to feel sorry for dead Palestinians.

The play by Caryl Churchill - an accomplished English dramatist and patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign - is scheduled to be performed at the city-funded Writing on the Wall Festival in Liverpool on Tuesday, followed by a fund-raiser for Palestinian causes.
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The city said it will halt funding for the festival after the organizers rejected to include a response play to "Seven Jewish Children," entitled "Seven Other Children" by Richard Stirling of Evergreen Theatrical Productions.

Stirling's play uses the same format as Churchill's, but attempts to "help give more context to the debate," as he told Haaretz Saturday. This includes references to the decision by Arab nations and ordinary Palestinians to wage war against Israel in 1948 and in 1967.

In explaining the rejection of Stirling's play, the festival's development coordinator Madeline Heneghan said: "The program is planned months in advance." The request was "unrealistic at this point", she added.

The request to stage "Seven Other Children" came from Jonathan Hoffman, co-vice chair of the Zionist Federation, after a festival spokesman told the Jewish Telegraph that organizations wishing to have a "profile" would be welcome at the event's "open" evening.

Stirling - who like Churchill is not Jewish - said: "I would've preferred my play to run alongside 'Seven Jewish Children' rather than having funding cut. I understand there's too little notice, but in light of the public controversy that 'Seven Jewish Children' has aroused, I'd be surprised had the programmers not expected some kind of comeback."

He also said that by not allowing a response piece, the organizers had adopted an attitude which was "at best incautious and at worst severely one-sided."

Hoffman said that "Seven Other Children" "has given us the political ammunition to take on 'Seven Jewish Children' wherever it is performed." Proceeds from "Seven Other Children" will go to OneVoice, a nonprofit committed to a two-state solution while "ensuring Israel's safety and security."

Asked how he feels about his play being used for political purposes, Stirling said: "I am glad certain elements of the Jewish or Israeli community take interest in my piece, but I myself did not start it for the Zionist Federation." Stirling also noted that Churchill is quoted by the Jewish Chronicle and other media as defining her play as "not just a theater event, it is a political event."

Hoffman told Haaretz that "the existence of 'Seven Other Children' was key to Liverpool Council's decision on funding 'Writing On The Wall' and will make other city administrations and funding bodies think hard about sponsoring 'Seven Jewish Children' without a performance of 'Seven Other Children.'"

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      1.   trouble is, 07:13  |  eshkol hakofer 17/05/09
      2.   Churchill`s Play 07:33  |  Walter 17/05/09
      3.   Walter 08:02  |  Suspicious 17/05/09
      4.   play is not anti-semitic 08:41  |  Dan 17/05/09
      5.   art as provocation 09:44  |  MarcJ 17/05/09
      6.   The Play is Propaganda 10:20  |  Reid 17/05/09
      7.   suspicious 10:26  |  scallywag 17/05/09
      8.   IT is the Pal govt that incites their children to kill Israelis 10:29  |  PETER SM 17/05/09
      9.   Complaining about the wrong thing 10:41  |  Jim 17/05/09
      10.   What I don`t understand is why they are calling it anti-semitic.. 10:47  |  Hector Bonifacius 17/05/09
      11.   Now lets work to cut the funding for Theater J in DC 11:00  |  David 17/05/09
      12.   The trouble is 11:15  |  Ruby 17/05/09
      13.   Moral equivalancy 11:20  |  Manny Goldstein 17/05/09
      14.   #10--Hector 11:37  |  American Jew 17/05/09
      15.   M.GOLDSTEI you can produce what you like at your own expense 11:40  |  PETER SM 17/05/09
      16.   BOYCOTT THE UK! 13:53  |  Michaels 17/05/09
      17.   7 Arab children 13:58  |  patriot 17/05/09
      18.   hector 14:10  |  oz 17/05/09
      19.   When Netanyahu invokes holocaust 14:21  |  Chris Linthwaite 17/05/09
      20.   Liverpool refuses to support antisemitic propaganda festival 14:31  |  Realist 17/05/09
      21.   MICHAELS Brothers do it better.With riots or threats of riots 14:32  |  PETER SM 17/05/09
      22.   #15 Answer the question or change the subject? 15:00  |  Manny Goldstein 17/05/09
      23.   Liverpool council 15:22  |  ky 17/05/09
      24.   Must send a donation to these folks 15:36  |  Labhras 17/05/09
      25.   To #10 16:02  |  chris 17/05/09
      26.   So apparently not everyone is anti-semitic in UK 16:19  |  AA 17/05/09
      27.   To No. 10 Hector Bonifacius 16:51  |  Luisa 17/05/09
      28.   Yes, Yes, No, No! 17:06  |  fritz t. 17/05/09
      29.   #17, martyrs or just victims? 17:13  |  fritz t. 17/05/09
      30.   Manny Goldstein 19:42  |  Brad 17/05/09
      31.   hector: Have you a clue? 19:50  |  Arie 17/05/09
      32.   REALITY CHECK 19:52  |  Mark 17/05/09
      33.   #8 Hector...antisemitism, (no hyphen) 21:55  |  Lynn 17/05/09
      34.   I`ve read the script. It is quite simply hate-mongering. 00:31  |  Zvi 18/05/09
      35.   This play is not Anti-Semitic 06:30  |  Basma Shabat 18/05/09
      36.   Seven Jewish/Arab Children 06:46  |  JAY 18/05/09
      37.   Re Eshkol 07:22  |  Shlomog 18/05/09
      38.   Hector 07:26  |  shlomog 18/05/09
      39.   RE: The trouble is 12:57  |  un2here 18/05/09
      40.   Seven Muslim Children 22:50  |  DrMike 18/05/09
      41.   The title, joined with this play, is certainly antisemitic 03:52  |  Susan Dunham 19/05/09
      42.   #33 No reason to think "Hector" or "Manny Goldstein" real names 03:58  |  Susan Dunham 19/05/09
      43.   Shlomog of Victoria 05:33  |  Eshkol Hakofer 19/05/09
      44.   Re Eshkol 07:52  |  shlomog 20/05/09
      45.   Reponse to Hector 07:47  |  Sylvia 20/06/09
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