On Thursday, May 19, 2011, at 9:00 p.m., the public had the unique opportunity to see a one-man show entitled "The Human Scale" and to participate in a discussion of issues raised by the play. A joint venture of IDI and the Cameri Theatre, this special event was conducted fully in English at the Cameri Theatre in Tel Aviv.
In the summer of 2009, Lawrence Wright, a Pulitzer prizewinning journalist from The New Yorker, approached his magazine with a proposal to write about the war in Gaza known in Israel as Operation Cast Lead. The result was a 12,000 word letter from Gaza, published under the title: "Captives—What Really Happened During the Israeli Attacks?" This article was later adapted into a one-man play, "The Human Scale," starring Wright as himself. A co-production of The Public Theater of New York and 3-Legged Dog, the play presents Wright's view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and enables him to explain how the parties reached the present impasse, which he claims began with the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit.
Wright's performance was followed by a discussion in which IDI President Dr. Arye Carmon discussed issues raised by the play with a panel including:
- Lawrence Wright, the play's creator
- Prof. Yuval Shany, IDI Senior Fellow and head of IDI's Terrorism and Democracy project
- Benzi Lieberman, Head of the Tnufa Directorate, which supports the evacuees of the Disengagement from Gaza
Special discount tickets were available for readers of the IDI website.