Here is an account from an audience member who was there. Personally I can understand that emotions are running high and that is why he erupted the way he did. Watching 12,000 children being brutally murdered will do that to some people. I think accusing him of antisemitism is disingenuous.
"I feel compelled to write this as I have seen through lots of channels that Paul is being labelled as antisemitic for his actions on Saturday. I believe it is important to share my account of what happened, especially within the context of one who has seen him perform before.
Most of Paul’s show is completely random – crazy sketches stacked on top of each other with some hilarious audience participation which had the crowd eating out of his hand. Close to the end of the show, Paul held up first a Ukrainian flag and then a Palestinian flag. To me this creates a sense of anti-war and pacificism more than anything else, and the crowd cheered.
He held up a Ukrainian flag during the Edinburgh Festival, and was therefore extending the same message he was putting out before the (awful) attack of Hamas and Israel’s ongoing bombing of Gaza.
At the end of the show Paul got a standing ovation. He always speaks at the end of Shtoom, a silent show. He noticed two members of the audience on the front row who were not standing up and made a joke about asking them why. They said something along the lines that they hated the show and they didn’t like the Palestinian flag. There might have been more but it was hard to hear, as I was in the middle of the room and they were at the front.
Paul was angered by this and told them to get out of the room. He then started chanting "ceasefire now" and much of the audience joined in. He then gave a passionate speech in which he condemned the actions of Hamas, but also those of Israel. He made a comparison with his hometown, Belfast. He said if the British Government had had a similar reaction to the IRA, as Israel had to Hamas, he would not be here. He spoke of the great waste of life we have seen – how many artists, doctors etc that have been lost in Gaza, and how awful that is.
While his action of telling audience members to leave is strong, to say they were antisemitic is untrue. His criticism was with the actions of a government, the actions which are currently under investigation by an international court of law for genocide. What has been happening in Gaza has been really hard for all of us to witness and emotions are running high.
I think Paul’s position is understandable, if not laudable (he defended an oppressed group), and given the backlash he seems to be facing (he has received some very hurtful messages on Instagram amongst other places) for purporting a message of an end to violence, I think he is very brave."
https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2024/02/13/54990/audiencememberssbackpaullcurrieinnantisemitismstorm