Theater: Is it possible to develop compassion for the enemy?

Disturbing, dystopian, exciting: “Perzen” at the Vienna Festival brings together Israelis and Palestinians on stage and boldly connects Aeschylus with the situation in the Middle East.

Are the terms "genocide" and "attempted genocide" permissible for the actions of the Israeli army in Gaza? Or should their very use be considered propagandistic and anti-Semitic? These major questions were discussed last week at the Vienna Festival, at the first of two "Vienna Congresses." At the end of the debate, a four-member jury was to make a decision – the result was inconclusive.