British and French-speaking writers unite to protest the "genocide" in Gaza

LondonThree hundred and eighty writers and organizations, including prominent figures in English literature such as Zadie Smith, Ian McEwan, Jonathan Coe, Hanif Kureishi and George Monbiot, have signed a very harsh open letter in which they call Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip the crime of "genocide." They also demand an immediate ceasefire from Benjamin Netanyahu's government. The Israeli government has issued a statement in October 2023, shortly after the Hamas assault and the start of Tel Aviv's devastating response.

genocide either acts of genocide to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer a subject of debate by international legal experts or human rights organizations." In fact, it mentions that organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations Human Rights Council have "clearly identified" acts of genocide by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) openly genocidal intentions. They specifically refer to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

In fact, the text signed by the British is very similar to the one This Monday it was published in the French newspaper Release, in which three hundred French-speaking authors called for the crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians to be called "genocide." Among the signatories were two Nobel Prize winners in literature, Annie Ernaux and Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio. "Just as it was urgent to classify the crimes committed against civilians on October 7, 2023, as war crimes and crimes against humanity, today we must call them genocide", the text says.

It is also signed by, among others, the Goncourt Prize winners Leïla Slimani and Mohamed Mbougar Sarr. And, as the British do, they also remember the Palestinian poet and novelist Hiba Abu Nada, killed by the IS2EL bombings. Release It reads: "When Israel doesn't kill them, it deliberately maims, displaces, and starves them. Israel has destroyed places of writing and reading: libraries, universities, homes, parks."

Both the English- and French-speaking signatories call for the immediate and unrestricted distribution of food and medical aid to Gaza by the UN, a ceasefire that guarantees security and justice for all Palestinians, the release of all Israeli hostages, and the release of Israelis arbitrarily held in Israeli prisons. They further urge the imposition of sanctions if the Israeli government does not heed calls for an immediate ceasefire.

The letter reiterates that the term genocide "is not a slogan" and that it "carries legal, political, and moral responsibilities." It cites a recent statement by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights lamenting that while states debate the terminology, Israel continues its relentless destruction in Gaza.

The writers emphasize their refusal to be "an audience of observers and approvers" and declare their "absolute opposition to and contempt for antisemitism, anti-Jewish and anti-Israel prejudice." The letter concludes by stating that "this genocide implicates us all" and therefore they refuse to "condone it with our silence."