The statement expressed her desire to support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement (BDS), a campaign that works to “end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law”.
“Earlier this year, the international campaign group Human Rights Watch published a report entitled A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution. That report, coming on the heels of a similarly damning report by Israel’s most prominent human rights organization B’Tselem, confirmed what Palestinian human rights groups have long been saying: Israel’s system of racial domination and segregation against Palestinians meets the definition of apartheid under international law,” Rooney’s statement read.
“Of course, many states other than Israel are guilty of grievous human rights abuses. This was also true of South Africa during the campaign against apartheid there. In this particular case, I am responding to the call from Palestinian civil society, including all major Palestinian trade unions and writers’ unions.”
She followed up with a subsequent statement that she would consider publication in Israel if she could find a BDS-compliant publisher:
…She did not feel it would be right to collaborate with an Israeli company “that does not publicly distance itself from apartheid and support the UN-stipulated rights of the Palestinian people.
“The Hebrew-language translation rights to my new novel are still available, and if I can find a way to sell these rights that is compliant with the BDS movement’s institutional boycott guidelines, I will be very pleased and proud to do so. In the meantime I would like to express once again my solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom, justice and equality”, she said.
The immediate visceral response of the Hasbara World was that Rooney was, in claiming to honor BDS, actually assaulting not only Israel, but Hebrew, its national language. This was offered as proof positive that Rooney was a raving anti-Semite.
But the author’s subsequent clarifying statement made clear that for her the issue was not publishing her book in Hebrew, but who published it. But then the attackers, some of them liberal Zionists like Anshel Pfeffer and Todd Gitlin (among others), averred that Rooney was being disingenuous since there was no way in which her book could be published in Hebrew in a manner that was BDS compliant. The Forward added insult to injury by publishing this ill-informed story on the controversy.
But this claim is patently false. Though I am not privy to Rooney’s personal views on this matter, there are quite a few ways she could publish the novel in Hebrew. First, there might be an Israeli publisher who does not accept government subsidies and is known for publishing left-wing titles. Such a publisher might even pledge to donate some of the proceeds of sales to the BDS movement.
My friend, Shir Hever, offers another example:
Naomi Klein wanted to publish her book The Shock Doctrine in Hebrew while respecting BDS, so she made a deal with Andalus Publishing (Yael Lerer)…She also made an agreement that she will not profit from royalties for the Hebrew version and that all the money will go to some good cause. The book sold very well in Hebrew, by the way.
In fact, Andalus would appear to be a perfect partner for Rooney. This is how it describes its mission:
Andalus Publishing is a progressive and independent Israeli publishing house dedicated to the translation of Arabic literature and prose into Hebrew.
…Despite Israel’s location in the heart of the Arab world, Hebrew-reading Israelis remain…unexposed to Arabic culture in general, and Arabic literature and thought in particular. It is nearly impossible to find translations of narratives that might enable the Hebrew reader to understand Arab societies and the various, complex experiences that shape the lives of the people who comprise them. The quantity and variety of existing translations is insufficient, especially as compared with the wealth of works translated into Hebrew from European languages. Andalus Publishing seeks to fill this vacuum by translating books that will cover social, cultural, and political issues as expressed through Arabic literary, poetic, and expository writings.
Another publisher I immediately thought of was Ibis Editions, founded by Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole. They published the first English translation of S. Yizhar’s masterful anti-war polemic, Hirbet Hiza. But alas, Ibis does not seem to exist any longer.
There are Palestinian book publishers in the West Bank and even Israeli Palestinian NGOs which publish textbooks and educational materials. Though it may be unusual for one of them to publish a book in Hebrew, there is no reason this shouldn’t be possible. Some Palestinian publishers translate English-language, and even Hebrew titles. There is no reason why such a Palestinian publisher could not arrange for the book to be translated into Hebrew, published in Palestine, and sold in Israel. This might require entering into a joint distribution agreement with an Israeli publisher.
Of course, authors own their own works. They are under no obligation to publish their novels in any particular language. In fact, Rooney is by no means the first artist to take such a stance. Alice Walker has refused to have her works published in Israel as have Henning Mankell, China Miéville, and most recently Kamila Shamsie. I am certain there are Israeli authors or Holocaust survivors who refused bringing out their works in German.
On a related subject, why is Rooney tarred with the anti-Semitism brush for not publishing her novel in Hebrew, when for decades it has been an unwritten rule that the works of Wagner may not be played in an Israeli concert hall or aired on the radio or TV? Admittedly, it is understandable for Israelis to have such a visceral response to the composer favored by the Nazis. But Rooney feels a similar sense of moral outrage at the crimes and injustices of Israeli apartheid. If she feels a Hebrew language edition of her work would be a collaboration with such crimes, she is entitled to act accordingly.
Language as Accessory to Evil
Another theme that exercised the hasbara crowd was the suspicion that Rooney considered not just Israel, but the Hebrew language itself to be implicated in the nation’s criminal behavior. BDS is known to target Israeli trade, commerce, academia and culture. But it is rarely claimed that the very language Israelis speak is a tool of apartheid. To Israel’s supporters this seems even more disturbing than merely boycotting Israel.
But is it? Language is not an empty vessel. It is not neutral. It is an expression of a nation or a people. It can be a sublime expression or a malign one. German was the language of Schiller, Goethe and Heine. But it was also the language of Hitler and Goebbels.
In fact, the German-Jewish academic, Victor Klemperer, chronicled the debasement of German under the Nazis in a voluminous diary which eventually became Lingua Terti Imperii (The Language of the Third Reich). In it, he documented the ways in which the Nazis hijacked the German language on behalf of their barbaric regime.
Like German, Hebrew is the language of the most brilliant poets, philosophers, and prophets. Jeremiah, Isaiah and Amos exhorted their fellow Israelites to follow the path of righteousness. The Song of Songs features gorgeous flights of passion and poetry. Yehuda HaLevi wrote of his longing for Zion in this same beautiful language.
In fact, the language of the Jewish liturgy is called lashon kodesh, the sacred tongue. Even the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are endowed with divine spirit. As Rabbi Chananya Ben Teradyon faces execution at the hands of the Romans, they wrap him in a Torah scroll and set it alight. As the flames consume him, his disciples ask him what he sees: “I see the parchment burning, but its letters are flying to the heavens.” In other words, evil deeds may destroy the material world, consuming it with fire, but the divine power of the sacred text cannot be destroyed.
Language Inciting Violence
However today, Hebrew has been harnessed to the interests of politicians and extremists who use it to debase other humans; to exhort their followers to hatred and violence. A current example is this Nuremberg-like rant by MK Betzalel Smotrich, once charged with planning a terror attack, in the well of the Knesset.
MK Betzalel Smotrich, accused Jewish terrorist screaming in Knesset at Palestinian MKs: “You are here in error. Because Ben Gurion never finished the job and threw U out in ’48. I want nothing to do with you.” Kahane lives! https://t.co/kVwXS3Q7ZD
— Tikun Olam (@richards1052) October 14, 2021
He bellows with Hitlerian fervor:
“With you I will never speak! You anti-Zionists! Supporters of terror! Enemies! You are here [in this country] by mistake. Because Ben Gurion never finished the job and threw you out in ’48. This is the truth. The truth. I want nothing to do with you.”
This is language in service to fascism. Is it any wonder Rooney hesitates before allowing her work to be tainted by such vileness?
The renowned Israeli dissident, Uri Avnery, also documented the abuse of language in service to state interests:
One should notice the use of the word “terror”. It has turned into an adjective attached to everything. There are not just tunnels – they are all always “terror-tunnels”. There are “terror-activists”. There is “the Hamas terror-regime” and there are “terror-bases”. Now there are “terror-kites”.
Notice: not just “incendiary kites”, or “destruction-kites”, only “terror-kites”. The same every day in all media…Of course, everyone who has the word “terror” attached to his name is “a son of death”, as you say in biblical Hebrew. Another proud term of the brainwashing.
Third Reich/Israeli Reich
In the same vein an anonymous Israeli published a Hebrew language website that mirrored Klemperer’s Lingua Terti Imperii. It was named, Lingua Imperii Israel (“Langauge of the Israeli Reich”). From 2012-2014 s/he wrote a series of thirty blog posts each analyzing Hebrew phrases which were used in service to the Israeli ultra-nationalist state.
I’ve translated some of the entries here:
Administrative Detention: Unrestricted detention of an individual–without need for evidence–who is disliked by the authorities
Return Fire: Contrary to what this implies, soldiers don’t always face incoming fire before they open fire at a target. The purpose of the phrase is to soothe the collective conscience that soldiers of the most moral army in the world would never fire without reason, but only when in real danger of their lives. Reality, it seems, shows that soldiers fire at old men who are unarmed…
Incitement to Violence: An organization or participant in a non-violent protest against the theft of lands which even the Supreme Court has ruled is illegal and ordered to cease.
Targeted Killing: The method Israel utilizes to kill without trial those suspected of subversive activity. Assassinations conducted in many cases which cause widespread injury to innocent bystanders. That includes firing powerful missiles whose kill radius is far larger than a single individual.
Voluntary Repatriation: According to international law it is forbidden to force refugees from Sudan and Eritrea to return to their war-torn lands. The legal loophole Israel uses is–if the refugee requests to return to his country. Who are we to stand in his way? In order to achieve this result, Israel does everything possible to embitter their lives: work is prohibited, causing poverty and hunger; detention in “open” camps where minimal food is offered to detainees; refusal of medical care, even to victims of torture; and other methods designed to bring refugees to the point where they will beg to leave…
Buffer Zone: an undefined area, or one deliberately vaguely defined, within which military forces are permitted to fire in order to kill any non-Jew found there. Sometimes it [the buffer zone] is 100 meters from the fence, sometimes 300 meters…
Anti-Zionist: The word “Zionism” was expropriated by the far-right back in 1967 with the founding of the first settlements, as a way to whitewash the conquest [of the West Bank] and to make it appear to be a continuation of the process of Jewish domination of Israel within 1948 borders. The word “anti” is intended to discredit those who oppose the settlements and Jewish supremacy in Israel…Today, anyone who opposes the existence of the Israeli apartheid regime is an “anti-Zionist.”
Surgical operation: When the IDF fires into a population center it is not firing into residential areas, but conducting a ‘surgical operation’–targeted killing of terrorists. Because bombs have no eyes, the description of a surgical operation is for propaganda purposes alone, and innocent bystanders become collateral damage.
So the notion that language is implicated in the crimes of such states should come as no shock to anyone.
Truthfully I could not care less. Have you ever been in Dublin? Once having a friend there who was a Yeats scholar I arrived in June 1972 in the evening circa 9-10 PM [still light-since its northern location] there was not one person on the streets who was not drunk even my bus driver. I arrived at my friends house and his ‘drunk’ roommate started to attack me verbally on the Palestinian/Israeli issue out of the blue. I had arrived via TA>Dublin before going to NYC. The truth was then that I knew nothing about politics and went to Israel to ‘perfect’ my Hebrew. I was neither a Zionist nor anti-Zionist. If you are familiar with Irish Catholocism you should know how virulently anti -semitic the Irish are.
I have a Dr. friend who studied at Trinity College in Dublin and he verified this in my many conversations with him.
But to give the benefit of the doubt I had to catch a plane to NY in the morning and it turned out I only had American coins but there was a very fine Irishman who gave me a few Irish coins to reach the airport and told me to do the same for someone in the future.
In the end whoever wants to read her books and knows Eng. has no problems and there are good people everywhere.
@ naor israeli: This is nonsense and an anti-Irish anti-Catholic calumny. I do not permit such hate here. Read the comment rules and respect them.
I myself lived in Dublin for nearly a year. I was involved in the local Jewish community. I too had friends at Trinity College. In fact, Ronit Lentin, a retired faculty member and ex-Israeli is an ardent supporter of Palestine.
I never saw an ounce of anti-Semitism. In fact, if anything the Irish are philo-Semitic because of their sympathy for the suffering of the Jewish people (just as the Irish have suffered as well). Of course, there has always been support for the Palestinian cause because the Irish themselves were colonized by the Brits. But support for Palestine is not anti-Semitic.
“philo-Semitic” which world do you live in?
did you forget the rule עשו שונא את יעקב not Zionist in particular but Jews. Zionism is just an excuse for their hate. even after WWII the facist/nazi movement was active in England-they wanted total annihilation. as Nasrallah said ‘I want all the Jews to come to Israel so it will be easier for me to kill them all’.
@ naor:
First, you don’t understand the difference between Ireland and England. They are not the same. You started accusing Ireland of anti-Semitism, then dropped that and started blaming England for anti-Semitism, as if there’s no difference between the two. There is no anti-Semitism is Ireland and aside from a small incident in Limerick in 1903, there has not been any.
As for your quote, I challenge you to provide a credible source for it. Provide a credible source in Arabic for it (not a MEMRI translation or anything of that ilk). If you do not do so within 24 hrs I will moderate or ban you. I Googled the exact quotation you offered and there were no search results for it. I do not accept unfounded charges claiming Nasrallah believes in genocide, being published here. Nor would I accept unfounded charges of genocide against an Israeli leader unless they were supported by an actual quote and source.
May I post this on behalf on Naor? It seems that Nazrallah was referring to the Islamic eschalotogical end times battle (which both Suni and Shia believe in) in which Jews are defeated in battle. This actual prophecy is not in the Quran, it was brought into the Hadiths by Christian converts to Islam, and it is their interpretation of the apocalypose of Daniel.
@ VarmWoice: Do not quote Tabloid magazine as a credible source. It isn’t. Yair Rosenberg is a hack as well. Nothing he says can be treated as credible.
[comment deleted: your comment is off topic. Comments must be directly related to the subject of the post.]
[comment deleted: off topic. No more comments in this thread]
[comment deleted: I warned Ben G not to link to David Collier. I share the same warning with you. Never again. Try me and you will be moderated or banned.]
אי אשפר לישר את העקום
@ Naor: You are right. Israel is ‘bent’ and it may be impossible to “straighten it.”
Anti Irish and anti-Catholic calumny is not permitted, yet when Willem calls me,’… a lying, thieving, murdering, morally bankrupt Zionist’, thats okay I guess.
Anyway, I have great respect for anti-Zionist and Human Rights activists who confront the ‘Occupation’ head on, groups like B’tselem, Adalah, Machsom Watch, etal.
I have significantly less respect for the ‘radical chic’ who’ve probably never visited Israel and the ‘Territories’, much less taken an active role there.
Hey Ben, I said some are reporting that you might be a…lol
Richard. Are you going to countenance this online harassment by Willem?
@ Ben G: First you quote a Judeo-Nazi falsely accusing Ireland of being anti-Semitic. Then when a commenter makes fun of you, you whine about “online harrassment.” Next time, ditch the Judeo-Nazis and argue based on principle (even if it’s pro-Israel) rather than based on fraud (Collier). Then I can have more sympathy for you.
First, I didn’t quote anyone, I linked a recent two-hundred page, heavily footnoted research paper.
Ireland isn’t anti-Semitic.
According to an ADL study, only 20% of polled Irish harbor anti-Semitic feelings or beliefs. https://global100.adl.org/country/ireland/2014
I assumed you’d understood that by ‘radical chic’, I was referring to Ms Rooney, and not to you.
@ Ben G: calling the garbage product David Collier produces a “research paper” is an insult to real research papers.
And in your next paragraph your undermine the major premise of the so called research paper by admitting the Irish aren’t anti Semitic.
Sally Rooney’s views on Israel Palestine and BDS are principled. They have nothing to do with “radical chic,” which is a mindless, vacuous phrase and insult.
You are done in this thread.
@ Ben G: You clearly don’t know much about any of these Israeli NGOs. None of them is “anti-Zionist,” except Adalah which is a Palestinian NGO. But B’Tselem does far more than “confront the Occupation.” It actually calls Israel an apartheid state “from the river to the sea.” An idea that you no doubt find odious. So much for your “respect” for B’Tselem.
I don’t know who you’re accusing of “radical chic.” I doubt you even have a clue what you’re talking about. If you’re accusing me, you’re truly an idiot as I’ve lived in Israel two years, studied at the Hebrew University and visited the Occupied Territories.
Some are reporting that Ireland is a hotbed for anti-Semitism.
https:// david-collier dot com/ireland/
hey they allow legal abortions, therefore they gotta be
lol…some are reporting that you are like a broken record or maybe that you are a lying, thieving, murdering, morally bankrupt Zionist
The anti-Israel sentiment in Ireland is partly because they view Israel as an English creation. It is the same reason why the Iranian Mullah’s are so anti-Israel: The Shah or Iran was close to Israel.
@ Ben G: No there is no “some” who are reporting. It is the notorious pro-Israel online thug, David Collier–an inveterate lawyer and all-around scumbag. Now we know the sleaze you hang around with. Be careful, it’s catching. And don’t link to David Collier again here.
anything anyone if it is not israel compliant becomes antisemite
sad you’re the only one trying to preach outside the choir,
at this stage the choirs member individuals are locked in, ergo there is no one to convert
we scream, they scream, we all scream for ice scream , bottom line nothing changes
why, again israel money power, the few far in between who oppose it are few and far in between and
PLUS CA CHANGE PLUS C’EST LA MEME CHOSE,
i guess the next thing will be that if i dont like a tv show of theirs and i decide to change channels i will be brushed as antisemite ,
trump , bibi , addelson fomented, fermented such vileness and once the pandora’s box is opened …..
does anyone see anychange anytime soon.
sorry richard the choirs are deaf to different tunes
Sally Rooney was asked to do this by a Palestinian organisation.
@ Varm: No she wasn’t. She said her decision was in response to a “call” from Palestinian NGOs to boycott. This was not a request made individually to her.
No one is allowed to have an opinion nust always be rooted in hate. I don’t like icecream therefore I hate milk farmers and cows. Nothing happens without blame. And lord forbid if it nears THA JEWISH STATE. you are forever excommunicated and bared from eating kosher food. Sorry just broke a rib.
[comment deleted: I warned you not to link to David Collier. You ignored me. Your next comment rule violation of any kind will result in moderation or banning.
Collier is a liar, a fraud and a thug. He maintains a close relationship with British neo-Nazis.]
[comment deleted: I have no interest in reading defenses or even explanations of the views of British white supremacists]
Just to be clear, I was not defending white supremacists. I was distinguishing between the different groups. The nuances you insist upon in our comments.
@VarmWoice: yours is a distinction without a difference. No more comments in this thread.
[comment deleted: spouting unsupported claims of anti-Semitism is prohibited here.]