Boycotting Jewish books – we’ve heard that one before

 Do you remember the letter during the Iraq War that called for the boycott of any British writer who did not speak out against Tony Blair? How about the petition demanding that American literary festivals which did not take a stand against US involvement in the Syrian civil war be cancelled?

If you’re finding these hard to recall, it is because they did not happen.

Yet this week, a letter signed by more than 400 writers will be published calling for the boycott of any Israeli publisher, book festival, and literary agency who has not spoken out against the war Israel is currently waging against the terrorist organisation Hamas.

It can’t be war itself that these authors object to so strongly. The conflicts in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan led to the deaths of millions of innocent people, but these authors did not call for mass cultural boycotts of a country then.

So what makes Israel’s quest for security, in the wake of the worst terrorist attack in its history a uniquely important cause, worthy of the kind of ban on Jewish authors that echoes the 1930s?

Some of the signatories are the well-known haters of Israel. For the Sally Rooneys and Arundhati Roys of this world, any opportunity to kick Israel in the teeth will be relished.

Other writers may be thinking about their book sales. 

In a world in which sales are increasingly correlated with social media fan bases, authors may be hoping for a pay-off by embracing this cause de jour.

Then there may be those who have signed this letter less out of conviction and more out of fear.

A fear that if they don’t virtue-signal they risk being marginalised at best and at worst will find themselves with no bidders when they next have a book to offer to publishers.

Sign or be damned so to speak.

Whatever the reasons as a fellow writer, their actions disgust me.

First, because in singling Israel out they expose their anti-Zionist bias.

For nowhere in the letter is there a call for an equivalent boycott of Palestinian literary festivals and publications unless these institutions speak out against Gaza’s governing body, Hamas – a terrorist organisation which just over a year ago murdered Israeli babies, mutilated Israeli teenagers, and killed Israeli pensioners, all in cold blood.

Second, because the writers’ grandstanding is all too McCarthyesque.

A world in which we demand that everyone toes our own political line or risk isolation is a very dangerous one.

It is a form of cultural authoritarianism, which of all people surely writers themselves should most forcefully reject.

And third because of the language this letter uses.

Its claim that Israel is committing “genocide” is particularly egregious.

Israel is not targeting Palestinians but Hamas, the perpetrator of the October 7 massacre, an organisation that hides amongst Gaza’s civilian population, and uses its citizens as human shields.

If any side has committed a genocide it is Hamas whose stated goal is to wipe not only Israel but all Jews off the map.

Divergent views and ideas are the lifeblood of any democratic and artistic culture.

Open dialogue should be embraced.

My fellow authors should focus on promoting this, rather than endorsing malign petitions.

Professor Noreena Hertz’s latest book is The Lonely Century: A Call to Reconnect (Hodder & Stoughton)