A Senior Thesis Exploring
the Line Between Criticizing
Israel and Antisemitism
When I initially proposed this project back in the Spring 2020, my goal was to combine my interest in history and theater into a meaningful project. Truth be told I had been thinking out what I would do for a senior thesis since the beginning of my Sophomore year. Many thoughts crossed my mind but the moment I thought about doing something related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict I knew that I had to run with this idea. I stumbled upon Churchill’s play and the controversy around it, and as someone who has experienced firsthand the scrutiny that comes with criticizing Israel, I knew immediately I needed to do something with this play. There have been two things I have been focused on throughout this project. The first being the question of where the line between Anti-Semitism and criticizing Israel lays, and the second how theater is used as a communication tool to discuss difficult topics like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In that way this project is simply a case study to a much larger, more extensive project that I hope to continue for the rest of my life. I did not expect to find the answer to either of these inquiries. I simply wished to gain further insight and help to create understanding among the Brandeis community.
Historical/
Play Context
In 2008 Israel and Gaza entered into an armistice that lasted for six months. Around the time that the agreement was pending renewal both Israelis and Palestinians committed violations of the conditions of the ceasefire. Gazans had sent rockets of the border and Israeli soldiers staged a raid killing 6 members of Hamas. In addition Hamas claimed that Israel had agreed to open up Gaza’s border as part of the conditions of the ceasefire. The blockade remained, though Israeli officials dispute whether this was ever agreed upon. There is a lot of controversy over who ended the armistice, however what followed was a brutal 22-day military assault on the Gaza Strip.
The military strike was called Operation Cast Lead. The actual number of Palestinians killed during this raid is unknown, but researchers claim the number is around 1,400, and that these casualties were primarily citizens. In contrast, only 13 Israeli’s were killed, 3 of whom were civilians. In addition to the immediate deaths tens of thousands of Gazans were left homeless and their already suffering infrastructure was destroyed. The fighting ended with another armistice, with no real solution in sight, and Gazans left rebuilding from rubble.
In April of 2009 the UN released the Goldstone report. Although the initial report has since been revised, the document detailed several examples of violations of the Geneva Conventions and subsequent war crimes. Both groups violated humanitarian law, however it is obvious that the IDF had access to much more advanced military technology and used it brutality during this war. There are many famous cases that were included in this report detailing how the IDF is responsible for the death and harm of many innocent civilians. Since this report has been disputed it is not entirely clear what actually occurred during this horrific 22-day battle.
Following this 2008 war Caryl Churchill, a non-Jewish, British woman felt moved to write a play in response to these events. Churchill described the play as a “political event.” Her concept involved parents figuring out what to tell their children in reflection of years of trauma faced by Palestinians. Many deemed Churchill’s play to be one-sided and some even went so far as to claim it to be a display of Anti-Semitism. In reaction to Churchill’s work many other playwrights wrote plays of their own trying to give other perspectives on the conflict. One, in particular, was Richard Stirling who wrote Seven Other Children which echoed Churchill’s structure, but provided the opposing perspective. His play is written to be performed alongside Churchill’s so that the two pieces can be in conversation with each other. (see resources tab for bibliography)
