Erika Dreifus

Israel, uniquely among nations, suffers from being turned into a synecdoche–of the part being taken for the whole. The other theater companies involved in the Globe’s program–whether from China, Zimbabwe or the United States–are simply not subject to the same scrutiny of their nation’s politics. No one would think of boycotting the English theater because Britain had been involved in the bloody occupation of two countries in recent memory. That would be absurd. yet it is not absurd when it comes to Israel.

Source: Stephen Marche, “Another Trial for Shylock,” The New York Times