School drama a love story, ‘not anti-Israel propaganda’

A Melbourne playwright has ­defended herself against claims a play set in Gaza and studied by Victorian high school students is anti-Israel.

Tales of a City by the Sea, a love story set during the Gaza conflict in 2008 and 2009, is by poet and author Samah Sabawi and is in this year’s Victorian Certificate of Education drama curriculum.

But B’nai B’rith has attacked the play as “anti-Israel propaganda”. The Australian reported that state Education Minister James Merlino had been ­approached to have it removed from the curriculum, but the minister’s office says no official complaints had been received. The Australian acknowledges that no complaints were received.

B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich said the play por­trayed Israel as a “bloodthirsty, evil war machine”. “Nowhere to be found is the Israeli perspective, the suicide bombings inside ­Israel,” he told The Age.

The play is one of 16 works, including two dealing with the Holocaust, being studied by Year 11 and 12 drama students.

“The play tells the story of Palestinian people in Gaza,” said Sabawi, who is of Palestinian background and has family in Gaza. However, there was “no discussion about Israel”, she said.

“It’s just a beautiful story about how ordinary people struggle and try to survive in the most extreme circumstances, facing external siege and war and bombardment and also internal repression.”

In the play, a woman in a Gaza refugee camp falls in love with an American-born Palestinian doctor and activist.

Tales is not a manifesto,” Sabawi said. “Others have found value in these stories, including Israelis and Jewish audiences. It is intentionally written in a depoliticised sense and brings out the lives and stories of the people.”

Full story by in The Australian

 

Note: This report, originally published on May 10, 2016 stated that Victorian Education Minister James Merlino had been approached to have the play, Tales of a City by the Sea, removed from this year’s Victorian Certificate of Education drama curriculum. The Australian acknowledges no complaint was received and that the report wrongly referred to B’nai B’rith as a Jewish lobby group.