Jewish mom shocked by anti-Israel rant at NYC puppet show

A Brooklyn mother said the Cardboard Pizza Puppet Circus took an unsettling turn after 15 minutes.

By World Israel News Staff

A New York City puppet show billed as a celebration of the perks and quirks of life in the metropolis unexpectedly launched into an extensive anti-Israel rant, shocking a Jewish mother who had brought her young son to the performance.

The show, titled The Cardboard Pizza Puppet Circus, was presented earlier this month as part of the International Puppet Fringe Festival. The festival receives funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, a taxpayer-funded agency.

The Brooklyn mother, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of antisemitic retaliation, told the New York Post that she had brought her four-year-old son to the performance expecting an entertaining children’s show.

The production by the Boxcutter Collective was promoted as “a celebration of” New York “featuring dancing skyscrapers, giant rats, fossil-fuel-fighting flowers, a live brass band, and Lady Liberty herself,” giving zero indication of the antisemitic content that would emerge during the performance.

About 15 minutes into the show, however, the tone abruptly shifted from lighthearted New York-themed entertainment to a screed against Israel.

“The anti-Israel stuff came out of nowhere,” the Brooklyn mother told the Post.

“It went from pizza rat and parallel parking to accusations of Israel bombing hospitals,” she continued, adding that the claims were met with cheers from members of the audience.

The woman, whose parents fled antisemitic persecution in the former Soviet Union, said the experience left her “feeling like I was surrounded by my ideological enemies.”

“My generation is now experiencing a fresh iteration of antisemitism here in New York that my family escaped back,” she told the Post.

The mother said the experience was particularly disturbing because she had not expected to encounter overtly anti-Israel messaging at a puppet performance marketed around the city’s culture and eccentricities — and had brought her four-year-old specifically for what she believed would be an appropriate children’s show.

The Boxcutter Collective, the International Puppet Fringe Festival, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts all declined to comment to the Post.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, criticized the use of public funding for programming that could contribute to an environment hostile toward Jewish New Yorkers.

“This is an inappropriate use of public resources,” Greenblatt wrote in an X post. “Publicly funded cultural programming should never contribute to an environment in which Jewish New Yorkers feel unsafe,” he added.

Manuel Moran, the founder and producer of the festival, however, downplayed concerns about the production’s content in a statement to the Jerusalem News Syndicate.

“As with many festivals, the full content of a production is not always known in advance, and the company premiered many elements of this work as part of the event,” Moran told the outlet.

“We stand behind our role in providing a platform for artists while recognizing that artists are responsible for their own work and should be able to speak to it directly.”