Israeli writer Amos Oz announced that to protest what he sees as extremist government policies, he will no longer participate in Israeli Embassy-sponsored events.
Oz, perhaps Israel’s most famous and most widely translated author, told the Jerusalem Post Nov. 5, he prefers to distance himself from events at Israeli embassies. However, the 76-year-old novelist, memoirist and essayist added, “I strongly oppose the BDS [movement] … My decision is aimed against the government, not against my country.”
Oz’s memoir, “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” was adapted into a film by Israel-born actress Natalie Portman this year. He was one of the first Israelis to call for a Palestinian state, in a 1967 article. — jta