Mick Hartley

PEN America claims to stand “at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world”. Unless you’re a Jew, that is. Or a Zionist, as they like to frame it now.

Ari Ingel in Tablet Magazine on PEN America’s Jewish Exception:

PEN America forced out its longtime CEO, Suzanne Nossel, after she was labeled a “Zionist” and refused to have the organization publicly declare that Israel was committing genocide. This episode sent a chilling message to Jewish professionals: Adherence to certain political dogmas is now a prerequisite for leadership within the organization….

Over the past two years, planned bookstore appearances by Jewish authors have been canceled, ads for books about Israel have been rejected, book readings have been shut down, literary groups have been targeted, and activists have circulated blacklists of so-called Zionist authors for harassment.

A few examples: PEN America issued no public condemnation of the McCarthy-esque “Is Your Favorite Author a Zionist?” list; no statement objecting to the targeting and cancellation of Gabrielle Zevin based on a presumed political identity; no statement defending the canceled book-launch events of Brett Gelman; no statement condemning the rejection of advertising for Bernard-Henri Lévy’s book; and no statement opposing the boycott of Israeli writers and cultural institutions.

By validating ideological litmus tests, PEN America is declaring that free expression is not a universal right, but a privilege granted only to those who pass the “correct” political screening. That is a shocking precedent for an organization that claims to defend the “freedom of expression.”

Forcing an artist to renounce their identity, nationality, or presumed political views as a prerequisite for participation is discrimination—plain and simple. It is incompatible with the values PEN America claims to uphold.

More on this from Jerry Coyne.