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    A call for a boycott of Israeli literature by international authors

    Kathleen William Posted on

    More than 1,000 authors signed an open letter calling for a boycott of Israeli cultural institutions, including Israeli publishers, festivals, publications and literary agencies that, in the signatories' eyes, have remained “silent observers” of the “oppression of Palestinians.”

    The signatories include well-known writers such as Sally Rooney, the author of Normal people; Booker Prize-winning writer Arundhati Roy wrote The god of small things; and Percival Everett, whose books include Delete. The letter was compiled by the Palestine Festival of Literature (PFL) and is being distributed online.

    The letter states in part: “The overwhelming injustice facing Palestinians cannot be denied. The current war has invaded our homes and pierced our hearts. This is a genocide, as leading experts and institutions have been saying for months…Israeli officials are clear about their motivations for eliminating Gaza's population, making Palestinian statehood impossible and confiscating Palestinian land. This is the result of 75 years of displacement, ethnic cleansing and apartheid.”

    Rooney previously made headlines when she refused to allow her books to be translated into Hebrew, and this letter appears to encourage other authors to follow suit.

    In the Middle East section of the Harvard University bookstore, there are more anti-Israel books than pro-Israel books. (Image credit: Tomer Rayfer)

    British Lawyers for Israel

    The Jewish Chronicle reported that UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), a legal advocacy group, condemned the letter as “clearly discriminatory against Israelis.” It cited the UK Equality Act 2010.

    UKLFI CEO Jonathan Turner said in a letter to the Publishers Organization: “This boycott is clearly discriminatory against Israelis. The authors do not impose comparable conditions on publishers, festivals, literary agencies or publications of other nationalities… The boycott also violates laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of nationality in many other countries around the world… in most US states passed a Law imposing sanctions on participants in boycotts against Israel.”

    He also described the allegations in the letter, particularly the accusation of genocide, as false. He referred to the fact that the former president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) had said in a BBC interview that the court had not ruled that there was a plausible case that Israel committed genocide, as some media incorrectly did had reported.

    Additionally, he noted that the letter puts the Palestinian death toll in the current conflict at 43,362, without specifying that the figure comes from the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

    In an article criticizing the boycott call in The Free Press, Lionel Shriver, author of We Need to Talk About Kevin, wrote: “Ironically, Israel, like most Western literary subcultures today, is predominantly left-leaning, i.e. the Rooney brigade.” seeks to punish his natural political allies. But the intention is not just to punish Israel's tiny cultural institutions.

    The aim of the boycott is to go far beyond the signatories and to intimidate all authors into withdrawing their works for publication by Israeli publishers and refusing to participate in Israeli festivals. These include writers who disagree with the organizers and do not believe that the IDF's efforts to eradicate Hamas constitute genocide, as well as a number of Jewish writers inside and outside Israel whose views on this war may be tortured or finely nuanced , because we all need to speak as one.

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    As always, a single perspective is acceptable. Writers used to enjoy conflict, complexity and contradiction – fighting on paper or talking loudly about each other at a festival discussion. Now we sing in a unified choir.”

    Shriver continued that, in her opinion, the best way to get her point across to readers around the world would be to publish her work in as many languages ​​as possible: “And if you're reading this, Sally, whether…” The Selling Hebrew translation rights is none of your business. Furthermore, since my fiction is the best expression of my own larger political outlook, the widest possible distribution of my novels is the optimal way to promote this outlook. Publishing in translation is certainly better than the squeamish refusal to allow my precious sentences to be corrupted by the language of the Jews.”

    Brendan O'Neill writes in the British publication The spectatorjokingly asked when Rooney and her cohorts would start boycotting the US and UK over the wars they have fought in the Middle East, saying: “I'm just curious why they always single out Israel.” I just want to know , why this country, more than any other, makes hearts beat faster in tantrums. Why do they bother his military maneuvers so much more than ours or those of America, France, Turkey, Iran or China? (This list is endless.) Why does the Jewish state live rent-free in the minds of the right?…

    “And now major literary figures are pledging not to attend Israel-affiliated book festivals or write for Israel-affiliated publications. Is this activism or bigotry? Treating a nation – and one nation alone – as so immoral, dirty, violent and detestable that all interaction with it must cease is surely more in the realm of prejudice than politics, more in the realm of emotionalism than rationalism . I'll just say this: If you're committed to making your life Israel-free while you're happily buying Chinese-made things on vacation in Turkey or getting your books republished in Iran, then maybe you're not the good guy Person you think you are. Quite the opposite.”



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    Kathleen William
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