An aggressively anti-Israel act has sparked fury at the Sadlers Wells Theatre as Jewish children were left in tears.
UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) was approached by several Jewish families who wanted to complain about a hip hop event called “Breakin’ Convention” on 5 May 2024. It was supposed to be a family friendly event, but Jewish families had been shocked by one of particular performer’s act.
Sasha Mahfouz Shadid performed an aggressive pro-Palestinian act, some of it in Arabic. He spoke about Israel murdering a child and at one point asked the audience “Have you been to Israel?” with a view to vilifying them. At the end he returned to the stage with a Palestinian flag which resulted in a huge cheer of support from the audience.
Jewish children left the theatre in tears. They felt singled out as Jews or Zionists and felt victimised and harassed.
UKLFI wrote to Sir Alistair Spalding, Artistic Director and Co-Chief Executive of Sadlers Wells, regarding the show. UKLFI’s letter pointed out that it breached of the Equality Act 2010 since Jewish, Israeli and/or Zionist members of the audience were harassed and subject to detriment.
The Breakin Convention show was hosted and curated by Jonzi D, a much lauded dancer, poet and pioneer in hip hop theatre, who has also helped to set up the “Academy Breakin’ Convention” hip hop dance school. This will form part of the new Sadlers Wells East, a dance centre scheduled to be opened later this year in East London. The Academy is described as “a new powerhouse for dance” and will teach subjects including hip hop dance, graffiti and rap poetry.
However, Jonzi D’s social media posts and re-posts have revealed his strong views about Israel and Palestine:
- His reposted messages feature antisemitic tropes such as Israelis / Jews controlling the world, killing babies and even “crucifying” Palestinians.
- He reposts messages giving moral equivalence to the deliberate slaughter of Jewish babies and children by Hamas with the unintended killing of Gazan children during the war…
- and also moral equivalence to the innocent hostages taken by Hamas with the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, who include murderers and others convicted of crimes, whom he also calls hostages
- He has reposted messages denying that Hamas carried out a massacre and has blamed the Israelis for killing their own civilians
- He has posted fake images that falsely imply Israel has caused a “holocaust”
As curator of the Breakin’ Convention Show, Jonzi D chose to feature the act by Sasha Mahfouz Shadid.
Now questions have arisen as to his suitability as a teacher of 16-19 year olds at the Hip Hop school, since he may use his platform as a teacher to spread his own political views. Section 406 of the Education Act or equivalent provisions prohibit the promotion of partisan political views in the teaching of any subject in the school.
UKLFI’s letter asks Sadlers Wells to conduct an urgent investigation into
- The breaches of the Equality Act during the Breakin’ Convention show on 5 May 2024
- The teaching of young people at Sadler’s Wells Academy Breakin’ Convention and the potential breaches of section 406 of the Education Act 1996
Caroline Turner, director of UKLFI commented: “ While it is wonderful that Sadlers Wells is promoting new and evolving forms of dance, to attract and include diverse audiences, it needs to be careful that it does not discriminate against members of the audience.
Similarly, Sadlers Wells’ new dance school in East London may be aimed at attracting a wider circle of students, but should not be prejudiced against any students, and certainly should not teach hateful and divisive political views to its pupils.”
Update: Sadlers Wells is carrying out an independent investigation into what happened at the Show.