Jewish groups have slammed the VCE authority, claiming it has selected a play for the year 12 drama curriculum that portrays Israel as a “blood-thirsty, evil war-machine” and amounts to “anti-Israel propaganda”.
The play, Tales of A City by the Sea, was written by Samah Sabawi, a Palestinian-Australian writer and activist, who supports the BDS [Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions] movement against Israel.
The play premiered in Melbourne in 2014, and will be performed for the second time at La Mama Courthouse, starting on Wednesday.
Set in the Gaza strip during the 2008-09 Gaza War, the story centres around a Palestinian woman living in a Gaza refugee camp, who falls in love with an American-born Palestinian activist and doctor, who arrives on the Free Gaza boats.
It describes life during the war, depicting frequent shelling and “white phosphorous rain”.
Full story by Timna Jacks in The Age