Irish Novelist John Banville Lets His Actions Speak Louder Than Words on Israel

You would be forgiven for thinking there is not much in the way of support for Israel or Israelis in Ireland – especially given the recent behavior of the Irish football team before, during, and after this week’s Nations League match against the Israeli team (in protest against Israel’s non-existent genocide against Gazans).

And, frankly, there isn’t much.

But that doesn’t mean Ireland is entirely devoid of prominent voices willing to push back against the prevailing narrative.

One is Booker Prize-winning novelist John Banville, who just made a strong statement – without actually saying very much at all.

Banville withdrew from Spain’s International Festival of Art, Literature and Cultural Humanities Cultur-Alh after the festival excluded Jewish-Argentinian novelist Ariana Harwicz amid pressure from anti-Israel groups opposed to her stance against the cultural boycott of Israel.

Harwicz had been scheduled to participate in a talk at the Granada festival on September 26. But festival organizers rescinded her invitation after receiving requests from the University Network for Palestine of Granada, a participating book club, and others calling for her exclusion.

Banville confirmed he had cancelled his appearance at the festival’s closing ceremony on Sunday but declined to comment further, saying: “My cancellation was my statement.”

Sometimes the most eloquent writers know when nothing more needs to be said.

Now it would be tempting to interpret Banville’s withdrawal solely as a principled stand for freedom of expression. And undoubtedly that is part of it. But there is some important context.

Almost exactly a year ago, Banville gave an interview to The Irish Times in which he described himself as a “philo-Semite” and spoke unusually candidly about Israel, antisemitism and the reaction to the Gaza war.

In The Untouchable there is anti-Semitism throughout. I’m a philo-Semite. I still defend the Israelis. I was shaped by the death camps. My view of the savagery of human beings was shaped by my childhood memories of what was coming out of Germany. I once tripped on blue twine that was used to bind bundles of The Irish Times. Six people helped me up. I remember thinking in different circumstances these same people would be pushing me into a cattle truck.

I think all right-thinking people have a dark view of human beings. We are not a very nice species. All this stuff about Gaza, which is terrible, of course, but nobody gave a damn when Assad was killing 350,000 of his own people. No one cared about Rwanda. It’s nascent anti-Semitism. Someone sent me a statement. I wrote back saying I will not sign this, there is no mention of Hamas.

At a time when so many cultural figures seem eager to prove their virtue by boycotting Israelis, Banville is an example of one swimming against the tide.

An Irish one, no less.

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