Author Sally Rooney’s refusal to sell Hebrew translation rights to her latest novel due to her support of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement has been described CFI Parliamentary Chairman (Lords) Rt. Hon. The Lord Pickles as ‘bewildering’, in a BICOM podcast.
The acclaimed Irish author was accused of Antisemitism and hypocrisy after her decision to allow a Hebrew publication of her new book to be printed only if the publisher is “compliant with the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement’s institutional boycott guidelines”. It appears that Ms Rooney has not singled out any other state for boycott than the Jewish State.
“BDS is a discredited, useless organisation. While it has been in existence the amount of trade that the UK has with Israel has totally increased… most people will be bewildered by that decision”, Lord Pickles said.
He emphasised: “One thing that has been consistent in terms of who has been the victim of BDS” are “the people who generally lost out are the people who wanted to make it work”. Asked to review CFI’s reception at Conservative Party Conference, Lord Pickles observed: “There’s a definite pro-Israel feel within the Conservative Party… a maturing of the view about Israel and its importance to Britain, particularly over the last 5-6 years”.
He added that this includes “understanding that we’ve got a really reliable partner that goes way beyond security, way beyond the traditional things, for example – that our NHS won’t be able to function without the number of Israeli patent medicines”.
Speaking about CFI’s Conference stand, he said: “The stand was buzzing from the very first opening of doors to the end we had a large number of people wanting to join CFI”.
The recent Conference in Manchester was Lord Pickles’ 50th Conservative Party Conference. Lord Pickles also welcomed the appointment of Liz Truss as Foreign Secretary, who spoke at CFI’s Conference Reception, and praised her recent leadership in the UK’s vote against the Durban Declaration at the UNHRC. Listen to the full podcast with BICOM research associate Sam Nurding here.
