{"id":92190,"date":"2026-04-10T15:38:55","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T20:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/?p=92190"},"modified":"2026-04-10T15:38:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T20:38:55","slug":"42-jewish-authors-slam-jewish-book-council-for-bias-toward-centering-israeli-and-zionist-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/42-jewish-authors-slam-jewish-book-council-for-bias-toward-centering-israeli-and-zionist-voices\/","title":{"rendered":"42 Jewish authors slam Jewish Book Council for \u2018bias toward centering Israeli and Zionist voices\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ANDREW LAPIN<\/p>\n

(JTA) \u2014 Dozens of anti-Zionist and non-Zionist Jewish authors are criticizing the Jewish Book Council, a historic literary group, for what they said was a \u201cbias toward centering Israeli and Zionist voices\u201d and \u201cnarrowing its vision to a Zionist approach to Jewish culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jewish book lovers gather at the Jewish Book Council’s offices in Manhattan, July 19, 2023. (Gabe Friedman)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A new open letter signed by 42 authors argues that the council, which was founded in 1925, should commit itself more to spotlighting Jewish voices who disagree with traditional Zionism and should not have showcased Israeli and Zionist voices after Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the JBC is our most visible and longstanding Jewish literary institution, its focus on Zionist authors and books gives both Jewish and non-Jewish readers the false impression that Jewish books are inherently Zionist,\u201d the open letter, published Thursday by \u201ca Concerned Group of Jewish Writers,\u201d argues.<\/p>\n

Notable signatories include Israeli-Dutch novelist Yael van der Wouden, whose 2024 debut \u201cThe Safekeep,\u201d a Jewish LGBTQ romance set in postwar Amsterdam, was shortlisted for a Booker Prize and won an award from the Jewish Book Council; memoirist Qian Julie Wang, whose book \u201cBeautiful Country\u201d was a New York Times bestseller, recommended by former President Barack Obama and winner of an award given by the council; novelist Adelle Waldman, author of \u201cHelp Wanted\u201d; and Michael David Lukas, a professor at San Francisco State University and past winner of both the National Jewish Book Award and Jewish literature\u2019s prestigious Sami Rohr prize for his 2018 novel \u201cThe Last Watchman of Old Cairo.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Jewish Book Council was founded to support and award Jewish authors and topics. In addition to handing out the annual National Jewish Book Awards, the council also connects authors with Jewish speaking engagements, publishes reviews of Jewish books, and provides other forms of support. In 2024, after a list purporting to expose \u201cZionist\u201d authors circulated online, the council launched a hotline to report antisemitism in the books world.<\/p>\n

The council\u2019s CEO, Naomi Firestone-Teeter, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency the letter represented a \u201cdifference in expectations\u201d about what the institution can stand for. <\/p>\n

The authors said they initially contacted the council\u2019s leadership in private last year, engaging in a dialogue over a list of specific concerns. Those included the council\u2019s failure to define antisemitism in its reporting tool, as well as its stated support of Israel and Israeli authors in recent awards ceremonies. <\/p>\n

The authors also urged the council to state that criticism of Israel \u201cis not inherently antisemitic,\u201d and to \u201ccreate programs and content in the coming year that reflect a more genuine diversity of Jewish views on Israel\/Palestine and create spaces for Jews and cultural workers engaged with Judaism to have these difficult conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Yael van der Wouden, winner of the 2025 Women\u2019s Prize for Fiction, during The Women’s Prize Trust Summer Party & Awards Ceremony on June 12, 2025 in London, England. (David Levenson\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When the council didn\u2019t follow up on their requests, the authors claimed, they decided to take their letter public. \u201cWe were\u2014and remain\u2014concerned that the institution\u2019s apparent bias toward centering Israeli and Zionist voices is not only exclusionary but harmful, contributing to the dehumanization of Palestinians and advancing a system of cultural apartheid,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

The open letter was the latest salvo in a series of dust-ups about Jews and Israel throughout the book world. Literary free-speech organization PEN America, after months of protest over its perceived Zionist tilt, this year replaced its leadership and retracted a statement standing in solidarity with an Israeli comedian whose performances had been cancelled. Bestselling authors have called to boycott Israeli literary institutions, and Guernica magazine experienced an internal upheaval after publishing an essay about the Gaza war by an Israeli writer arguing for coexistence.<\/p>\n

The Jewish Book Council, however, had not experienced much public pushback from within its ranks of authors, until now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the open letter is reflecting is a difference in expectations about our role as an institution, not a lack of engagement,\u201d Firestone-Teeter told JTA. \u201cOur role is to be a platform for literary exchange. We\u2019re not a political advocacy group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Firestone-Teeter said that, contrary to the authors\u2019 claims that the council had failed to follow up on their requests, she had \u201cengaged in good faith\u201d and made the council\u2019s position clear to them. She said she disagreed with their assessment that the council deprioritizes Jews who are critical of Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will see the diversity of the Jewish community represented, including some of these voices,\u201d she said. \u201cJews are not a monolith. Our writers write with a lot of nuance, a lot of complexity.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also defended the council\u2019s decision not to narrowly define antisemitism for its hotline, noting that they received hundreds of antisemitism reports and that different authors have different ideas of what constitutes antisemitism. The council intends to analyze the data it received. \u201cWe have not used the tool to take punitive action,\u201d Firestone-Teeter said.<\/p>\n

In addition, she said, it was appropriate for the council to spotlight Israeli authors after Oct. 7. \u201cWe are an organization that supports Jewish authors in America, Israel and beyond. Israel is a key part of our efforts to support the Jewish community,\u201d she said. \u201cOur Israeli authors represent a very wide range of views, politically and otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the authors\u2019 objections, Firestone-Teeter told JTA, the council still considered them part of its constituency: \u201cThese are Jewish author<\/p>\n

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