Igal Ezraty
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and what it is that you do?
“My name is Igal Ezraty, and I founded the Arab-Hebrew Theatre in 1998. Currently, I’m the general co-director alongside Rauda Suleiman.
I’m a citizen of Israel, and I used to be a member of a group called Yesh Gvul (“There’s a Limit”) which was a gathering of reserve soldiers who refused to serve in the military during the time of the First Intifada. Back then, I was in my 20s and was studying theatre, so I tried to combine my political views with my artistic passion. It all happened so naturally.
The Arab-Hebrew Theatre is structured mainly on three different levels: directors, actors, and the audience. We aim for diversity across all three levels. My artistic director is an Arab woman while our cast members are a mix of Jewish and Arab actors of different faiths: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity among others. We try to market our shows to a mixed audience, as well, because we believe the audience level is the most important. We really try to create a safe space for people of different backgrounds to meet and have important conversations. Most of the population in Jaffa are either Arab or Jewish, but there are really no community spaces available for everyone to meet.”
What other initiatives have inspired your work?
“We took the Committee for Truth and Reconciliation of South Africa as a case study, and it inspired us to create one of our flagship shows. As you know, the Committee for Truth and Reconciliation was established in 1996 in the aftermath of South African apartheid; it was designed as a public committee where victims of human rights violations were invited to give their statements about their own experiences. We were inspired by the Committee to design a public forum. We formed our own little committee by inviting local people as well as a mix of amateur and professional actors to give their statements and testimonies. We gave a platform for witnesses and victims alike to talk about their own experiences. All the while, the actors helped us tell the stories of those who couldn’t speak up for themselves. The show was staged as a community court where audience members could ask questions to the testimony givers. It was honestly very tough and just like an actual court hearing, but it was very powerful at the same time.
We decorated the outside of the theatre in flags to represent the “public court” we had created, but a lot of passersby were angered by the sight of these flags and tried to break into the theatre. It got very physical, and the show was nearly destroyed.”
Why are arts and culture integral to conflict transformation?
“I personally believe that audience members who come to a theatre to see a politically- charged show have a different experience from those who come specifically to watch a political discussion. It’s always said that, in theatre, the audience members leave their thoughts outside and leave themselves exposed to new experiences. We use that to our advantage to tell the stories of Palestinians without prejudice. Our goal is to have the audience listen to Palestinian stories and empathise with them.
Over the last few years, we have been dealing more and more with cultural intersection. We designed shows that showcased diverse talent from all cultures within the region. For example, we showcased the work of Oum Kalthoum, an Egyptian singer, Mahmoud Darwish, a Palestinian poet, and Hanoch Levin, an Israeli writer. We have had a lot of positive feedback after these shows. In fact, many audience members speak up about how they didn’t realise Arabic was such a beautiful language and that it is, in fact, not very different from Hebrew. Unfortunately, especially after recent law changes that declassified Arabic as one of the main languages of the state, a lot of the audience members have never learnt the Arabic language. Most of the Arabs, on the other hand, had to learn Hebrew out of necessity.
Yet, not all of the feedback we get is positive. We’ve also had our fair share of difficulties and backlash along the way. There were many efforts by the former Minister of Culture to close down the theatre. We were accused of being biased on multiple occasions for pushing Palestinian narratives when, according to the ministry, we should only represent the narratives being pushed by the government. Our theatre and other similar ones were in danger of closing down for almost three years. But, thankfully, they didn’t succeed in shutting us down. Although, the same couldn’t be said for other theatres.
I feel that our role in theatre is not to change people. You can’t expect the audience to see a one-hour show and completely change their political views. But, what we can do instead, is show them different stories and experiences that help them feel empathy for one another. Our shows inspire people to think critically and make empathy-based choices in their political lives. This is why I choose to work in theatre instead of politics.”
Since the beginning of the war on Gaza in 2023, how has the dynamic within which the Theatre operates changed?
“We couldn’t perform immediately after October 7th as everything was so chaotic at the time. But, we decided to re-open the theatre after a month with a special show. The one-hour special consisted of around seven or eight scenes with each scene written by a Jewish writer expressing their own vision of the current events and their impact on the world. It was very impactful.
Afterwards, we did another show titled “How to Remain Humanist after a Massacre in 17 Steps.” It was written by Maya Arad Yasur after October 7th. It was a very powerful show that dealt with the aftermath of the first month of the current conflict. As the title implies, the emphasis was put on staying true to our humanity even after terrible events.
Unfortunately, whenever we talk about Palestine, the Minister of Culture tries to intimidate us into being silent. He has sent us multiple warnings over a couple of short films we were airing at our theater as these films talked about the current genocide happening in Gaza. We received multiple threats of closure if we were to actually play these films. Obviously, we didn’t comply.
I feel that, nowadays, Israelis have lost their empathy. Most people only focus on their own suffering without caring about the suffering happening to everyone else on the other side. I personally can’t sleep at night anymore. I feel so ashamed of having this genocide being done in my name – in our name. The atmosphere in Israel today is very tense. The current government is extremely right wing and very religious, nationalistic, and racist. Here at the Arab-Hebrew Theatre, we feel that it’s our responsibility to present a different model of what a democratic state should look like. We open our doors to everyone to come in and talk about their experiences; there is no telling who is Jewish and who is not when they enter our halls.”
Could you describe for us the most emotionally-impactful creative project that you’ve worked on?
“I think the most emotionally-impactful project we have done was a show called ‘Winter Colombia.’ Colombia is a checkpoint in the West Bank, and the show is designed as a regular day at the checkpoint; the show shows the process in its entirety. It starts off with a young Israeli soldier stationed at the checkpoint. He’s 18 years old with strict orders to not let people pass without a permit. Then, you see the other point of view – that of a Palestinian woman trying to cross the checkpoint. For the Jews in the audience who are unfamiliar with the whole process, they finally see that what seems like a simple process is not as straightforward as they think it to be. They finally understand what Palestinians experience at the checkpoint – between long waiting times up to 12 hours along with overt harassment and/or restriction of movement. They can finally understand why people see the Israeli army uniform as representative of evil.
Another show that comes to mind is ‘Longing or Exile at Home.’ It’s a community-based show where people talk about their own experiences of living away from their places of birth. They talked about how they were forced out of their homes both historically and presently. The show helped foster relationships based on shared experiences of both Palestinians and Israelis who had to move with their families and leave their family homes. A lot of our audience identified with the shared stories as the actors talked about their own personal stories.
Finally, back in 2000, during the second Intifada, there were massive riots in Gaza. A lot of people were afraid of coming to Jaffa because of the riots. We saw this as a challenge to create a safe space for open discussions. We opened up the theatre for the public, and put up signs inviting people to talk inside without the need for violence. A lot of people took the initiative and spoke on the stages we had erected; both Jews and Arabs shared their stories. At the end of the evening, everyone rose up and held hands. It was very powerful to see a moment of solidarity amidst the conflict outside the theatre walls.
I see the impact these shows have had on the audience after every viewing. I see that these types of shows give the audience food for thought. We often get a lot of feedback after the shows when a lot of the audience members start rethinking their views in a way they haven’t ever before.”