Amy Klein

There is a glaring contradiction at the center of @PENamerica's newest report. Our research partner, @MegKeene describes in her article for @wsj that the organization has a clear principle on record stating that boycotting writers risks compounding authoritarianism, dehumanization and the erosion of freedom of expression. Rather than apply that standard consistently to include Israeli and Jewish writers, the report qualifies its conclusions, frames their exclusion more tentatively than other forms of discrimination, and stops short of clearly identifying antisemitism as the central explanation for the pattern it documents. Even that half-measure was too much for PEN's president, who resigned anyway, calling it "unethical" to suggest that anti-Israel boycotts may be discriminatory. They unequivocally are. A free-speech organization that cannot consistently apply its own principles isn't protecting free speech at all. We once again urge PEN America to even-handedly oppose all efforts to boycott, silence, or exclude any voices, including Jewish and Israeli ones. wsj.com/opinion/pen-america-…