Hundreds of writers, publishers and book workers have boycotted the Israeli cultural institutions over complicity in the Tel Aviv regime crimes against Palestinians in Gaza or inaction towards the crimes committed in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Signing an open letter on Monday, the literarians said their move was aimed at protesting “the most profound moral, political, and cultural crisis of the 21st century.”
 
The letter, described by observers as one of the most forceful statements of condemnation and largest commitments to cultural boycott on the part of the American literary community, asserted that “the overwhelming injustice faced by the Palestinians cannot be denied.”
 
It cited the regime’s October 2023-present genocidal war on the Gaza Strip as an instance of the oppression, saying the brutal military campaign “has entered our homes and pierced our hearts.”
 
They pointed to the 43,000-plus death toll of the onslaught, which has mostly claimed the lives of women and children, denouncing it as “the biggest war on children this century.”
 
“Israel has made Gaza unlivable…Israel has destroyed all infrastructure, including the ability to count and bury the dead,” they added.
 
“Israeli officials speak plainly of their motivations to eliminate the population of Gaza, to make Palestinian statehood impossible, and to seize Palestinian land. This follows 75 years of displacement, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid.”
 
Continuing to work with the institutions would harm Palestinians, they said, calling on their fellow literarians to join the pledge.
 
The undersigned include multiple winners of, and finalists for, almost every major literary award in the world, from the Booker to the Pulitzer, the National Book Award, and the Women’s Prize for Fiction.