On Thursday, Annie Ernaux received the Nobel Prize in Literature and announced that she would continue her fight against injustice in the world. But the 82-year-old also has a completely different side. Ernaux openly advocates anti-Semitism and a movement to destroy Israel.
Annie Ernaux sees her award of the Nobel Prize in Literature as an invitation to continue her fight against injustice in the world. “The Nobel Prize isn’t quite real for me yet, but it’s true that I feel a new responsibility,” Ernaux said in Paris on Thursday. “I’m very moved,” she said. “You should know that this is something very big for me.”
On the topic: Annie Ernaux receives the Nobel Prize in Literature 2022
But Ernaux also has a side that doesn’t fight injustice. The 82-year-old is a staunch supporter of the anti-Semitic movement BDS. Their goal is the destruction of the Israeli state through boycotts and sanctions. The Jerusalem Post reported first.
Along with 100 other French artists, Ernaux signed a letter in 2019 calling for a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest. This took place in Tel Aviv at the time. French television was also asked not to broadcast the event.
Ernaux rejects intercultural cooperation between France and Israel. “It is a moral obligation for every person of conscience to oppose the normalization of relations with the State of Israel,” said a 2018 letter on the subject, co-signed by Ernaux.
The winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature repeatedly described Israel as an “apartheid state” and drew a comparison to the former apartheid regime in South Africa. The accusation, however, misses reality. Unlike South Africa, there is no racial or religious segregation in Israel. Arab and Muslim Israelis hold high positions in the country. All doors are open to the people there, both state-run as constitutional judges or ambassadors, and non-state-run, such as chief physicians or national players.
On the other hand, Ernaux is staunchly silent or downplays the issue of Palestinian violence. Instead, she called for the release of Lebanese terrorist Georges Abdallah. He is in prison for killing an American officer and an Israeli diplomat.
