Dear HobsonsBay4Palestine,
If you wish to characterise Jews who believe that the Jewish homeland, Israel, should exist, as beyond the pale, then obviously you have rendered all discussion about this as beyond the pale too. If you wish to characterise this support as at the same time being necessarily a demonisation of the Palestinians, then you’re also demonising discourse and taking the Australian polity into unpleasant places.
We all have our views and this intractable conflict drags on & on but I believe people of good faith should be able to voice their opinions/feelings in this democracy we all share & hopefully nurture.
I do not support genocide. For those of you who want to characterise this as my position because of the Patricia Karvelas interview, or the few words that have been taken out of context from it, I have made detailed posts about this on Facebook.
Labelling supporters of Israel as unsympathetic of Palestinians & supporters of genocide is not helpful. Not helpful to Australian society & certainly not helpful to the Middle East.
I don’t think you should ask for my cancellation in presenting my music theatre piece at Altona Theatre, BUT I DO support your right to ask for it. I also don’t think you should protest the show if it’s not cancelled BUT I DO support your right to protest. I just don’t think the protest will achieve anything of value and will just contribute to the general air of distrust that more and more we are all experiencing.
I understand you have your reasons and I ask if you do protest you do so respectfully and don’t make things difficult for the people who want to see the show.
Social media is not a place for any meaningful back and forth about our views, so I’m neither defending my Zionism, or attacking you, because to do so will further inflame rather than clarify how we understand each other’s positions.