Yesterday +972 Magazine announced that it would publish Sally Rooney’s latest novel, Intermezzo, in Hebrew, and that the book would be available for purchase in Israel and Palestine. In the announcement, +972 Magazine said that the translation would be published in line with the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, so that it could be read by Israeli citizens without contributing to support for the country’s government. Rooney has previously been a vocal critic of Israel, and critics have claimed that any publication of the book in Israel is an attempt to skirt BDS. Following the announcement of this translation, she is facing widespread backlash online from pro-Palestine supporters.

Shortly after the publication of her third book, Beautiful World, Where Are You in 2021, the Irish author turned down the opportunity to have the novel translated into Hebrew. She cited concerns that the Israeli publisher, which had published her first two novels, did not publicly distance itself from “apartheid” and “support the rights of the Palestinian people”. She later reasserted her stance and expressed her support for the BDS movement.

In a letter explaining their decision, +972 Magazine suggested that “after five years of deep dialogue” with Rooney and the BDS movement, the Hebrew publication of Intermezzo would go ahead, in collaboration with the independent Israeli publishing house November Books. +972 Magazine is an Israeli online magazine on the political Left that claims to be run by both Palestinian and Israeli journalists.

After the magazine posted about the news on X, several prominent accounts on the site criticised the move. Susan Abulhawa, a Palestinian writer and scientist, stated that November Books could not be independent if it “pay[s] taxes to the zionist colony”. Meanwhile, journalist Heidi N. Moore mocked the decision, saying, “Sally Rooney’s work was promised to them 3,000 years ago in the Bible,” in reference to Israel. Maria Aristodemou, a Senior Lecturer in Law at Birkbeck College, said that Rooney was “weak” and merely “pretending to support BDS”. Mohammed el-Kurd, a Palestinian author, claimed that Rooney had been “creating loopholes to bypass sanctions”.

Last year, Rooney expressed support for the proscribed activist group Palestine Action. In an article for the Irish Times, she described the group as “activists who disrupt the flow of weapons to a genocidal regime”. She also suggested in the piece that she may support the group financially, stating, with reference to the money she had received from BBC adaptations of her writing: “I want to be clear that I intend to use these proceeds of my work, as well as my public platform generally, to go on supporting Palestine Action.” The Prime Minister’s office responded that “support for a proscribed organisation is an offence under the Terrorism Act.”

Rooney has not yet directly responded to criticism of the new publication, though several online accounts have jumped to her defence. The press release by +972 Magazine suggested that the publication of Intermezzo in Hebrew, in line with BDS, offers the chance to “rectify false impressions… that the Israeli public and others have formed about the boycott movement”. While pre-orders have begun, it is unclear whether the publication will still go ahead.