Dining across the divide: BJ and Toby on Gaza, Greens and the king

BJ, 46, a writer and translator who also holds US citizenship, and Toby, 25, a postman studying for a master’s in environmental assessment and management, met for dinner at Blue Joanna in Norwich. They were both flustered when they arrived; she brought him a plant and the food—banana blossom tacos, broccoli, aubergines, padrón peppers and oyster mushrooms—went down well.

The main clash came over whether the violence in Gaza should be called “genocide.” BJ said the term implies a deliberate killing of a people and argued the Israeli army was trying not to hit civilian targets, while Toby said systematic destruction, killing tens of thousands, and preventing people from returning fitted his definition and left no room for debate.

They also debated the Greens. Toby said they agreed on most Green policies but BJ said she could not vote for them after seeing canvassers make antisemitic comments and a motion some had backed that labelled Zionism as racism.

gaza, genocide, israeli army, civilian targets, greens, antisemitism, zionism, norwich, blue joanna, king