Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Surprise! Tony Kushner at Center of Israel Kerfuffle — This Time North of the Border

Tony Kushner, the playwright and screenwriter of “Angels in America” and “Lincoln,” has found himself at the center of an unexpected scandal in Toronto. In the city for a talk hosted by the Koffler Center for the Art, he’ll be discussing his career with theatre director Philip Akin. But Kushner’s appearance has been obscured by a political kerfuffle.

It’s a bit complicated, so take a breath: the Koffler receives $250,000 in annual funding from the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, which unexpectedly issued a letter dissociating itself from the event. Its reason? Kushner sits on the board of Jewish Voice for Peace, a BDS-supporting organization that advocates for peace between Palestinians and Jewish Israelis. Kushner himself, however, is against BDS, a position he’s made publicly clear on multiple occasions. He’s now accused the UJA of “McCarthyism” — that quote is from an interview with The Globe and Mail — saying “It’s depressing that — even in Canada — this kind of censorious, illiberal and really disgraceful behaviour [sic] is seen as acceptable.”

Talya Zax is the Forward’s culture intern. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @TalyaZax

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.