An Irish author announced that she will only sell the Hebrew translation rights of her new novel if she can find a publishing house that adheres to the guidelines of the anti-Israel BDS movement.
Sally Rooney’s third novel Beautiful World, Where Are You was released in September. That same month, the author declined an offer from the Israeli publishing house Modan, which printed her last two books in Hebrew, to buy the novel’s Hebrew translation rights.
The author of Normal People cited reports from Human Rights Watch and the Israeli organization B’Tselem, two groups that have accused Israel of apartheid against Palestinians, and said she doesn’t feel it would be right to work with an Israeli company “that does not publicly distance itself from apartheid and support the U.N.-stipulated rights of the Palestinian people.”
In May, following the 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Rooney signed an open letter that accused Israel of an “apartheid regime” and called for “an immediate and unconditional cessation of Israeli violence against Palestinians.”
The letter also asked governments to “cut trade, economic and cultural relations” with Israel.