A war of words has erupted between the Palestine Festival of Literature (PalFest) and UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), a London-based association of lawyers supporting Israel. PalFest has issued an open letter asking signatories to pledge not to “cooperate with Israeli institutions including publishers, festivals, literary agencies and publications”.
The PalFest letter has been signed by 445 writers, publishers, literary festival workers and other book industry workers. It refers to the “emergency” situation faced by Palestinians in Gaza and the “years of displacement” experienced by Palestinians. It claims that “culture has played an integral role in normalising these injustices”.
In response, UKLFI UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) has written to the Publishers Association, the Independent Publishers Guild, the Society of Authors and leading UK publishers, pointing out what it describes as the “false allegations in the letter and the legal and reputational risks of participating in, assisting or supporting the discriminatory boycott”.
UKLFI says the boycott is “plainly discriminatory against Israelis”, and adds: “The authors do not impose similar conditions on publishers, festivals, literary agencies or publications of any other nationality.”
Jonathan Turner, chief executive of UKLFI comments: “Anyone contemplating participating in this discriminatory boycott should note what happened when Airbnb and Unilever participated in boycotts targeting Israel. Faced with multiple legal actions by pro-Israel activists in the US, as well as sanctions by US States based on this legislation, they were forced to drop their boycotts, incurring substantial losses, expenses and reputational damage.”
Turner adds: “We invite the Publishers Association to alert its members to the legal and reputational risks of participating in, assisting or supporting the discriminatory boycott proposed by the authors of the Letter, and to avoid any endorsement of the letter.”
