The play is not about Israel but instead tells the story of a Jewish man preserving his family’s traditions in a village in imperial Russia at the turn of the 20th century. The performance on Monday went ahead as planned after the protest at the cafe.
“This is a performance of Fiddler on the Roof,” they wrote alongside footage of the protesters. “So, if you’re busy condemning racist demonstrations, but not this, & you don’t think they should be prosecuted, stop preening yourself. You’re happy with racism – it’s only the target that you worry about.”
It is absolutely antisemitic. Fiddler on the Roof is about the Jewish culture and has nothing to do with Zionism or Israel.
This would be like protesting against Saudi Arabia actions at an Eid festival.
I’m Jewish (I’m even a mod in our Jewish community here on lemmy.world) and I am very sensitive to antisemitism, but there is also a lot of ignorance which you can call a form of soft bigotry if you like, but it does not rise to something I would consider antisemitism.
It could very well be that this was a case of a bunch of ignorant people.
Someone else suggested (based on the article itself) that it may have been coincidental and the protest just happened to be in the vicinity of the musical.
Or they were a bunch of antisemites.
I don’t feel like I have enough information to judge.
While we’re all tip-toeing around the criticize Israel minefield, remember that the Zionists don’t pay any attention to these rules. They’ll couch Israeli policy in Judaism as it suits them. And they’ll raise antisemitism as a bludgeon and the Shoah as a shield.
It’s a big disadvantage when only one side is nervous about appearing as a racist monster while the other is breaking new ground in bigotry and monstrosity.