Sir, – Author Sally Rooney has declined the printing of a Hebrew version of her new book ("Sally Rooney blocks Israeli edition of her new novel in support of Palestinian-led boycott", News, October 12th).
This, she says, is in support of the BDS movement. The Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement declares that it is against the appropriation of land and resources by outside force. This is a noble idea but is failed constantly by those who support it in Ireland. I have yet to hear BDS being discussed on the airwaves or in print other than in the context of Israel and the illegal settlements in the West Bank.
As a democratic remedy, perhaps all Irish writers whose work is published in the New World will demand that they are printed in native languages alone. Aborigine, Maori, Aztec, Choctaw and Sioux, etc, rather than in the language of the natives European oppressors who took their land and resources and still disallow any return to self-government.
The real questions are why is Israel alone held to account and why must the Israeli people demonstrate that they are more virtuous than ourselves? – Yours, etc,
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EUGENE TANNAM,
Firhouse,
Dublin 24.
Sir,– I had been looking forward to reading Sally Rooney’s latest novel but her decision to support the BDS movement and deny a translation to an Israeli publisher of her work into Hebrew shows in my view a naivety worthy of her character Connell Waldron at his most dithering. BDS, in my view, is an existential threat to the existence of the State of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, however imperfect. – Yours, etc,
KENNETH HARPER,
Burtonport,
Co Donegal.
Sir, – Sally Rooney’s new book is a political manifesto. Is this really what fiction has been reduced to? – Yours, etc,
JAMES FOX,
Dublin 18.
Sir, – In reference to Sally Rooney’s refusal to grant publication rights to an Israeli publication company of her new novel Beautiful World, all I can say is thank you. – Yours, etc,
PAUL DORAN,
Dublin 22.
Sir, – In a predictable display of virtue signalling, and hypocrisy, author Sally Rooney has decided not to allow her latest book to be translated into Hebrew by a particular Israeli publisher.
This, she sanctimoniously declares, is because she supports the BDS movement.
One can’t help wondering what the Uighurs in China, the Armenians in Turkey and a host of oppressed others have done to be left out of Sally Rooney’s concerns.
Or is it just a case of Israel and Israelis being the favourite and acceptable whipping boys of the great and the good of the literary world? – Yours, etc,
TREVOR TROY,
Baile Átha Buí,
Contae na Mí.