Irish Author Sally Rooney’s Novels Removed From 200 Israeli Bookstores Over Boycott

Novels by the Irish author Sally Rooney have been removed from the shelves of some 200 bookstores in Israel that are part of the Steimatzky and Tzomet Sefarim chains. The books were pulled after Rooney announced that her new book published earlier this year, “A Beautiful World, Where Are You” will not be translated into Hebrew because she identifies with the BDS movement and the boycott of Israel. Rooney’s two previous books were both bestsellers and were been translated into dozens of languages and her book “Normal People” is currently in the works for a TV series by Hulu and the BBC. The books also have been removed from the two companies’ websites. Rooney said in a statement last month that it would be an “honor” for her to have her books translated into Hebrew, but not by an Israel-based publishing house. She said she would hold out for a publisher that would “publicly distance itself from apartheid and support the UN-stipulated rights of the Palestinian people.” The chances of finding a Hebrew-language publisher outside of Israel are very slim.