Last week I picked up reports of censorship by Spertus, a Jewish museum in Chicago, of a show called “Imaginary Coordinates” that gave a lot of airtime to Palestinian views of the conflict in Israel/Palestine. I’m returning to the subject because today I got a mocking email from a Jewish literary friend about the censorship, in turn quoting a contemptuous Jewish friend of his–and it struck me that younger Jews find the episode ridiculous and embarrassing. Consider: Jewschool and JTA both were angered by the censorship. And here is Time Out’s coverage by Lauren Weinberg (who I’m guessing is Jewish and younger), appropriately titled “Let’s All Go to the Spertus Museum of Censorship.”
Curator Rhoda Rosen gave me a
tour of the (excellent) exhibition last month, so I can confirm that it
proposed such radical notions as 1) Palestinians exist and 2) They feel
strongly about their claim to the Holy Land.
Also here is Time Out’s favorable review of the show, by Philip Berger, who I’m guessing is probably Jewish, and younger, inasmuch as he works for Time Out.
The Chicago Tribune’s report on the censorship made the show out to be with-it, provocative (check out “Barbed Hula” by Israeli artist Sigalit Landau); but not in the eyes of Jewish leadership/the Spertus board. Any time you say Palestinians are human beings you have to have “context”:
[A] video showed a woman driving around Jerusalem asking for
directions to Ramallah, a Palestinian town in the West Bank. Everyone
gives her different directions and describes Ramallah as far away, when
it really is quite close by, illustrating how mental distance can
affect the maps in our mind.
Michael Kotzin, executive vice president of Jewish United Fund/Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, said pieces like those videos
lacked context. While many pieces highlighted Palestinian humanity, he
said others portrayed Israelis as unfeeling and guarded, without noting
the dangers Israelis have faced for decades.
I see this episode as evidence of the generational split I often talk about here. “Exodus”-generation Jews are clearly threatened by this type of speech. They are actually afraid. “This exhibition caused pain for members of our key audience who felt it
presented anti-Israel points of view,” the museum’s president solemnly told Weinberg. Older Jews expect us to respect their sensitivities, by trashing the spirit of the First Amendment. It’s like the Arabs have replaced Nazis in their demonology. Younger Jews just seem to want the news, even about the right of return, so they can judge for themselves. I think I know who’s going to win this one.
