Seven Arabic Children

SEVEN
ARABIC
CHILDREN
a play for Israel
Garnel Ironheart

No children appear in the play. The speakers are adults, the parents and if you
like other relations of the children. The lines can be shared out in any way you
like among those characters. The characters are different in each small scene as
the time and child are different. They may be played by any number of actors. All the actors must be smoking but if asked if they are smokers, they must deny it.

1
Tell him it’s a game
Tell him it’s very serious
You must frighten him so he knows what’s at stake
Tell him they’ll kill him for being here
Tell him it’s important to be kill them first
Tell him she’ll have pita and humus if he’s good
Tell him to practice firing the rife.
Tell him they’ll be back soon.
Tell him to come out when he hears the triumphant shouting
Don’t frighten him
Tell him to come out when he hears “We’ve killed the Jews!”
Tell him there will be a big party.
Tell him we’ll do it again and again.
Tell him something about the Jews
Tell him they’re stealing our land
Tell him we have to kill them first
Tell him they’ll go away if we attack them enough
Tell him we can make them go away if we keep shooting at them
By the grace of Allah

2
Tell him this is a photograph of her grandmother, her uncles and
me
Tell him that the Zionists killed her uncles
Don’t tell her they were killed attacking the Zionists in the first place
Tell him they were killed in cold blood
You must frighten him.
Tell him his grandmother was clever
Don’t tell him what they did
Tell him she was brave
Tell him she taught me how to make pita
Don’t tell him how his grandfather sold the land
Tell him the Jews stole it instead.
Tell him more when he’s older.
Tell her there were Zionists who hated Arabs
Tell him over and over
Tell him we can still kill them and take back the land we sold them
Tell him the Europeans sent them here because they were sick of them
Tell them the world hates us but Allah loves us so we will triumph
Tell him more when he’s older
Tell him it was before he was born that they stole our land
Don’t tell him there’s any question of not getting it back.
Tell him dead or alive Allah will avenge him
Tell him his grandmother would be proud of him.

3
Don’t tell him we’re going for ever
Tell him he can write to his friends, tell him his friends might come with us
Tell him it’s only for a short while
Tell him we’re just waiting for our brothers to wipe the Jews out
Tell him it’s the land Allah gave us
Tell him their religion is all lies and ours is all truth.
Tell him his great great great great lots of greats grandad lived
there
Don’t tell him they used to live in Iraq and only came here a few years ago
Tell him, of course tell him, tell him that the Zionists drove us out and that our
country is waiting for us to come home
Don’t tell her we’ll be staying in this camp forever.
Tell him of course he likes it here but he’ll like it there even
more
Tell him it’s an adventure
Tell him that the Zionists won’t be able to kill her there
Tell him he’ll have new friends
Tell him he can take her toys
Don’t tell him that we ran because our brothers told us to
Tell him he can be a shahid some day
Tell him about Mecca and Medina
.
4
Don’t tell him who they really are
Tell him something
Tell him they’re European and that the other Europeans kicked them out
Tell him about how they invented this thing called “Holocaust” and used it to extort
Billions from the other Europeans
Tell him they live in our homes they stole from us
Tell him this wasn’t their home
Tell him they’re going away as soon as our brothers regroup and attack again
Tell him they hate him and want to kill him
Tell him to be careful.
Don’t tell him that we ran when our brothers told us to get out of the way lest we
Be caught in the battle
No but don’t tell him our brothers lost the war and now we’re stuck here.
No but don’t tell that our brothers now won’t let us leave the camps, that we have to stay
Here until they can kill the Zionists.
Tell him not to be frightened
Don’t tell him he can’t play with the children
Tell him they have plenty of friends and family
Tell him for miles and miles all round they have lands of their own that the Jews stole
Tell him again this is our promised land.
Don’t tell him that the Jews also lived here, that they had a kingdom and Temple here because
Our people left the deserts of Arabia.
Don’t tell him that the Jews never left.
Tell him maybe we can share until we’re strong enough to drive them out
Don’t tell him that!

5
Tell him we won
Don’t tell him how we started the fight.
Tell him his brother’s a hero
Don’t tell him how we lost.
Tell him how big their armies were
Tell him how we almost turned them back but that they were deceptive.
Tell him we’re fighters even though we’re still in these camps and the Zionists
Are still on our land.

6
Don’t tell him
Don’t tell him the trouble about the hospital
Tell him it’s okay to steal their cars, they stole our land
Tell him they steal our water, our land, our air
Don’t tell him anything about the pollution we put in the water.
Don’t tell him about the belt
Don’t tell him not to want to wear the belt
Don’t tell him what it’ll do when he pushes the button
Tell him it’s a fashion statement
Tell him it look good on him
Don’t tell him about the queues at the checkpoint
Don’t tell him about how the soldiers check everyone
Tell him to walk slowly, casually
Tell him to walk to where they are standing and sitting
Tell him not to say anything to them
Tell him it’s for the glory of Allah and our people
Don’t tell him about how they’re innocent. None of them are innocent
Tell him how they stole our land, how they killed our children and raped our women
Don’t tell him they’re civilians. They are all soldiers, even their children
Tell him they poison our waters
Don’t tell him that.
Don’t tell him that bombing cafes is wrong
Tell him that his friends all want to bomb cafes
Tell him to be careful so he won’t get caught.
Don’t frighten him.
Tell him the wall was their idea and we did nothing to deserve it
Don’t tell him how we threatened to drive them into the see
Tell him they want to take our blood for their Passover crackers.
Tell him about how they control the banks and the US Congress
Tell him about how many virgins he will get in Heaven.
Don’t tell him that
Tell him we will endure
Tell her we are blessed by Allah
Tell her they don’t deserve anything except violence
Tell them we want peace, but only in English
Tell him to say he’s going to visit a sick relative.

7
Tell him he should stand in their way
Tell him the schools were closed so he can go fire rockets at the Zionists
Tell him that the Zionists will kill him if they catch him.
Tell him the rockets will scare and intimidate the Jews
Do frighten him , then blame the Jews.
Tell him that many of us were killed, that it was a massacre
Tell him their army is slaughtering our men and raping our women
Don’t tell them how their cousin now works in one of their companies.
Don’t tell him how our leaders said we should become human shields
Tell him the Zionist fighters have been driven off
Tell him they’re animals
Tell him they’re the sons of pigs and monkeys
Don’t tell him about the family of dead girls who were killed by our own people
Tell him you can’t believe what you see on the Zionists’ television
Tell him they kill babies on purpose, to terrorize us
Don’t tell him anything about the fighting between Hamas and Fatah
Tell him, tell him about the army, tell him to be proud of his people.
Tell him about the family of dead girls, make up names and dead girls if you have to
Tell him the whole world will know how they massacred us
Tell him there’s dead babies, did she see babies? Show them to her.
Tell him about Mohammed Al Dura and what happened in Jenin.
Tell him the Zionists deserve to roast him hell.
Don’t tell him about how they supply us with power and clean water.
Don’t tell him how they built us schools and factories and gave us jobs.
Tell him we want our children killed to make people sorry for us,
Tell him there can we no sympathy for the sub human Zionists
Tell him they suffered in Europe and now they’re Nazis too
Tell him there was never a Holocaust, that they made it all up
Tell him we survived the Crusaders, we endured the Ottomans
Tell him we won’t stop attacking them until they’re all dead
Tell him they’re animals, that Allah created them to be destroyed
Tell him that the world hates them and will laud us for killing them
Tell him that when I see one of their children dead I laugh and shout “Allah hu akhbar!”
Tell him that we dream of rivers of their blood flowing in the land they stole from us.
Tell him that it is better to live in misery and dream of killing them than to make peace and
Live in prosperity beside them
Tell him that with blood and fire we will redeem Palestine.
Tell him we love him.
Don’t forget to remind him about how proud we will be when he’s in Heaven as a shahid
.
Seven Jewish Children is Garnel Ironheart’s
response to the anti-Semitic bulls—t written by Carly Churchill
Caryl Churchill has asserted her moral right to be identified as
the author of Seven Jewish Children even those she’s an immoral Jew-hating wench.
The play can be read or performed anywhere, by any number
of people. Ask your friends who liked Seven Jewish Children if
they think this is just as amazing a play or if, suddenly this is a racist hate-filled
diatribe.