ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on some of the challenges which may be involved in defining, identifying and reflecting on antisemitism. Its starting point is Caryl Churchill's very short 2009 play, Seven Jewish Children, and the conflicting responses it has prompted from readers. It probes the complex ambiguities generated by Churchill's decision not to attribute any of the play's lines to individual named speakers, instead leaving the choice of how to apportion them to the director (or reader). It explores the vastly different ways in which these lines have been interpreted by readers, actors and academic scholars, and reflects on the significance of some of these gaps. These observations are contextualised within the charged political debates over the meaning of antisemitism, with particular reference to the International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and the Jerusalem Declaration, as well as to some episodes in the University and College Union's approach to antisemitism.
