A man in Vienna protests Israel’s war in Gaza as the Austrian city hosts the Eurovision Song Contest this week.Martin Meissner/The Associated Press
Audience members approaching the Cultch theatre in Vancouver to see Soldiers of Tomorrow last week were greeted by protesters. On some occasions, people were called Nazis for attending. Protesters were not shouting at anyone the evening I saw it – although I did encounter a sign saying “nobody wants the perspective of nazies (sic)” or “IOF soldiers.”
The demonstrators – and e-mailers, telephoners and online commenters – were upset with the Cultch for platforming an Israeli-Canadian theatre artist who had served in the Israeli army.
Had they come inside – as protesters were invited to do – they would have seen a show they might have vehemently agreed with. Itai Erdal’s searing autobiographical play offers a deeply personal perspective, depicting Israel as an oppressor of Palestinians that conscripts soldiers into an immoral, racist operation.
This is what the pro-Palestinian protesters were protesting.
Cultch executive director Heather Redfern, who also received complaints from pro-Israeli Jews, engaged with the protesters – but refused to cancel the show, exhibiting more courage than Vancouver’s PuSh Festival and Victoria’s Belfry Theatre, which both shut down another Canadian play on the topic, Christopher Morris’s The Runner, in 2024.
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This is not even close to an anomaly, of course. Be an artist who engages with the Israel/Palestine conflict – or even just be Israeli and try to mount your show, or sell your novel, or participate in a biennale or in Eurovision – and you risk being hit with protests, if you’re even able to get your work out there.
This insidious form of censorship has extended to non-Israeli Jewish artists, as Canadian author Aviva Rubin writes in the Canadian Jewish News this week. “Inviting me to participate in a festival could imply taking a side in a conflict that Jews are now de facto associated with” – even though she has publicly opposed Israel’s Gaza war. “Funders might pull out. People might squirm. Best not to risk it.”
This shutting down of artistic expression can happen quietly – not with a loud street protest, as artist Nan Goldin experienced when the Art Gallery of Ontario decided not to acquire her wonderful Stendhal Syndrome after she expressed strong support for Palestinians. Ms. Goldin, who is Jewish, spoke this week at a Vancouver Art Gallery event; the VAG, along with a U.S. museum, did co-acquire Stendhal Syndrome, which has nothing to do with Middle East politics. In Vancouver, Ms. Goldin said she faced financial repercussions after speaking out against Israel and urged museums “not to cancel anyone.”
The evening included the Canadian premiere of her newest work, Gaza. The silent video compilation is a graphic and deeply upsetting document (her term) of Israel’s deadly war. While its failure to mention the Oct. 7 attacks was startling, I would defend to the teeth her right to show it.
And to talk about it! Ms. Goldin spoke candidly at the event, even if it was an agreement-fest, and no audience questions submitted about the Oct. 7 erasure were selected by the moderator.
At Soldiers of Tomorrow, I was annoyed by some simplistic takes during the talkback, at least the part I was there for. When an audience member opined on Israel’s white colonizers, nobody bothered to mention that a large percentage of Israeli Jews are not white. The panel’s expert, a University of the Fraser Valley academic, seemed to outright dismiss Israel’s security concerns – again with no mention of the Oct. 7 attacks, the brutality of which were outlined in a report released this week, including sexual assault and murder in front of family members.
Art can deal with these horrors and complexities in a deep and crucial way. We must listen to artists – and certainly not censor them – even (especially?) when we disagree with them. Palestinian, Israeli, Jewish, Muslim, angry, contemplative, questioning – we need their takes. Nothing hateful, of course, although that can get complicated: What is your definition of hate?
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Meanwhile, the Cultch has had to reschedule Alaa Shehada’s The Horse of Jenin for next October because the Palestinian artist has not had his Canadian visa approved. The plan had been to run it in the same season as Mr. Erdal’s show.
Soldiers of Tomorrow was programmed before Oct. 7 and the Gaza War – and then delayed to ensure they got it right. Muslim and Jewish community members were invited to a reading in 2024 and asked for input. As Mr. Erdal shares in the program notes, a university professor who taught Arab studies told him: “I see harm in not doing it.”
The show’s run at the Cultch, which ended last weekend, sold out. Ms. Redfern is exhausted. Other arts organizations across Canada should follow her brave example.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Nan Goldin's work Stendhal Syndrome.