Owner apologises after backlash
'We did not deliberately seek to engage in debate about the rights or wrongs of the conflict.'
A Melbourne play centre has removed displays about Gaza and issued an apology after complaints about the content.
SuperZu Play Centre in Dingley Village displayed slides expressing concern for “starving children in Gaza” on its closed-circuit monitor, prompting feedback over several days before the material was taken down.
Proprietor David Rivers issued a media statement acknowledging the display “may have offended some customers” and apologising “without reservation to anyone who may have experienced distress.”
“We sought only to draw attention to the plight of children in Gaza. No accusation of culpability was made,” Rivers stated in his media release.
“We did not deliberately seek to engage in debate about the rights or wrongs of the conflict.”
However, in an earlier email to a complainant that was subsequently posted on social media, Rivers took a more combative tone.
“We believe that a free Palestine is the first step towards peace for all people in the region, and we will continue to support and promote that in our business,” Rivers wrote in the email.
He added that while he was “sorry if the phrase ‘Free Palestine’ offends our customers in the Jewish community,” the business was “more offended by the tens of thousands of dead and maimed children and civilians, the pictures of the barely surviving emaciated and starving population.”
One Jewish parent of a child who visits the play centre contacted The AJN and said, “I think the community will vote with their feet and with their money.”