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Literature star Sally Rooney is committed to calls for a boycott against Israel
Photo: Simone Padovani / Awakening / Getty Images
The two largest bookstore chains in Israel, Steimatzky and Tzomet Sefarim, are no longer selling novels by the Irish writer Sally Rooney.
The companies operate more than 200 branches in the country.
The background is a dispute that has been going on for almost a month. At the beginning of October, Rooney had refused to translate her new novel "Schöne Welt, wo sind du" into Hebrew. She demanded that her Israeli publisher first distance itself from Israel's dealings with the Palestinians. She called it a form of apartheid. Rooney also announced his support for the BDS boycott movement.
The BDS tries to isolate the State of Israel economically, culturally and politically.
The movement includes artists such as the musicians Roger Waters and Kate Tempest.
Rooney said it would be "an honor" if her book were translated into Hebrew.
"If I can find a way to sell these rights in a way that complies with the institutional boycott guidelines of the BDS movement, I would be very happy and proud."
Israel's Minister for Diaspora Affairs, Nachman Shai, described calls for a cultural boycott of the country as "anti-Semitism in a new guise."
