In 2021, famed Irish author Sally Rooney declined to publish her book in Israel because there was no BDS-compliant publisher. At the time, she said she would be “pleased and proud” to have her books translated into Hebrew, as long as it was done in a way that respected the principles of the boycott. Last week, Rooney announced that she was publishing a Hebrew translation of her latest book, Intermezzo, with November Books and +972 Magazine. The publishers had been vetted by PACBI, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, and deemed BDS compliant. This means November Books does not operate in Israeli settlements, receives no state funding, and explicitly recognizes the Palestinian right of return. In The Guardian, Rooney said she “kept in touch with PACBI along the way to try to ensure that I was upholding both the letter and the spirit of the institutional boycott.”

Immediately, there was backlash. Some Palestinian writers, including Mohammed El Kurd and Susan Abulhawa, questioned the decision to use this “loophole” in BDS guidelines to bring the book to Israeli audiences. Why now? And why this? Even if it adheres to the letter of the boycott, does it capture the spirit, as Rooney says? On this episode of On the Nose, Arielle Angel speaks with Ahmed Moor, a writer and fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace; Maya Rosen, assistant editor at Jewish Currents; and Muhammad Shehada, a writer from Gaza and a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, about this tempest in a teapot surrounding the Hebrew translation of Intermezzo. They discuss whether this action hit its strategic marks, and what the response says about the Palestine movement’s relationship to both the Israeli left and the prospect of changing Israeli society.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Media Mentioned and Further Reading

BDS Guidelines

“On +972 Magazine, Sally Rooney, and the centering of Israelis in an anti-colonial movement,” Susan Abulhawa, Mondoweiss

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappé

“Yuval Noah Harari on Donald Trump’s Core Delusion,” The Ezra Klein Show

Perfect Victims by Mohammed El Kurd

“We’re publishing Sally Rooney in Hebrew, in line with BDS. Here’s how and why,” Haggai Matar, +972 Magazine

Salma Shawa discussing Hebrew on Instagram

“In the Middle of Our Palestinian Neighborhood, My Daughter Started Yelling in Hebrew,” Sari Bashi, Haaretz

PACBI’s Position on No Other Land

“Did Zionism Go Wrong or Was It Always Wrong?,” Peter Beinart with Omer Bartov and Gideon Levy on the Beinart Notebook on Substack

Transcript forthcoming.