VICTORIAN education minister James Merlino has come under fire after Victorian high school students found a “heavily biased” stage-play about life in Gaza during the conflict with Israel on their curriculum.
More than 1300 Year 11 and 12 students will potentially read and view Tales of a City by the Sea, after the play, penned by pro-Palestinian campaigner Samah Sabawi, was included on this year’s VCE drama list.
It’s claimed young students, who were given copies of the script and told to see the play during its current three-week run at La Mama Courthouse, are being exposed to dialogue that, among other accusations, suggests the Israel Defence Forces censors Muslim prayer.
At one point, a character in the play states: “Are your loved ones trapped behind the wall, do they need the army’s permission for their prayers to reach the sky”. Another character intones: “What Holy Scripture gave the command ‘Thou shall wipe out their villages and scorch their land?’”
Read the full story by Peter Kohn in the Australian Jewish News