It's the Jews' Fault!

Of course it is. Everyone knows that. Silly me.

Stephen Pollard recently (well, almost a month ago actually) reported on a Birmingham Reparatory Theatre Company / Edinburgh International Festival production that's right up there with the National Socialist cinema classic Jud Suss.

From the flyer (and this really deserves to be quoted at length):

A witty and provocative new play about multicultural life, commissioned by the Festival from the Scottish playwright Shan Khan.

There was a place, where The Christians and The Muslims existed in relative peace. Everyone was more or less happy, except for The Jews - who were few and had to be thankful to their Christian Overlords, for the little space they were accorded.

Then one day more Jews came, and it soon became apparent to them that they'd need their own space. So they got their own space - but at The Muslims' expense. The Muslims of course are fuming. The Jews feel they're perfectly within their rights. And The Christians are trying to take a back-seat and let the other two share the blame. This place is a multi-faith Prayer Room in a British college.

So the Christians and Muslims were more or less happy until those darned Red Sea Pedestrians came along, and ruined everything. No doubt they poisoned some wells, too. It is indicative of how bad the anti-Jewish climate has become (particularly, I venture, in Europe), that Jew-baiting can glibly be dismissed "witty and provocative" in the mainstream arts community. I am assuming that the playwright is Muslim, particularly because he or she has adopted a narrative of grievance against the Jews that is very common in Muslim communities today. I may be wrong. Assuming that I am right (as I almost invariably am), the silence of the British equivalent of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in the face of this Jew-baiting is yet another example of the moral infantalisation of the Muslim community by multicultural activists.

The play (and no, I didn't pop over to Edinburgh to see it) appears to itself infantilize Muslims. In the playwright's world view, they are spectators of their own destiny; the Jews spread discord and the Christians help the Jews at the Muslims' expense. What do the Muslims do? Nothing - they are simply victims, acted upon rather than acting. At the risk of sounding sickningly pompous, Muslims cannot continue to view history through that prism.

Thanks to Liz for pointing this flyer out to me!