literary magazine Guernica An article by a left-wing Israeli writer about finding “common ground” with Palestinians was retracted because the magazine’s editors deemed it not anti-Israel.
of new york times report:
in essay Joanna Chen, a translator of Hebrew and Arabic poetry and prose, wrote a book entitled “From the Edge of a Broken World” that explores the rift between Palestinians and the Palestinians, including volunteering to transport Palestinian children from the West Bank. I wrote about my own experience trying to fill in the blanks. She spoke about her care in an Israeli hospital and how her efforts to find common ground were frustrated after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and subsequent Israeli attack on Gaza.
On Guernica’s webpage, it was replaced by a note from an alleged “administrator,” which said, “Guernica regrets publishing this article and has retracted it,” promising further explanation. Since the essay was published, at least 10 members of the magazine’s all-volunteer staff have resigned, including former co-publisher Madhuri Sastry. Who wrote on social media The essay “seeks to defuse the violence of colonialism and genocide,” it said. cultural boycott of Israeli institutions.
Chen said in an email that she thought her critics misunderstood “the meaning of my essay, which is about maintaining empathy in the face of human decency.”
The original essay is still available at internet archive.Below are some passages from it. Guernica Tried to suppress (original emphasis):
My own mind was also confused. Walking the line of empathy and feeling the passion on both sides is not easy. But as the days passed, that shock turned into a dull ache in my heart and heaviness in my legs. At night, I lay on my back in bed in the dark, listening to the rain hitting the window. Israeli hostages underground, children and women, had no way of knowing the weather had turned cold, huddled in tents set up by the United Nations, or in Gaza seeking shelter. I remembered the people, the children, the women. I looked up at the ceiling and imagined it coming closer and closer to me. Rather than falling or falling, it moves like an elevator descending to the ground.
At this moment, the horror of being violated rose to the surface of my consciousness. I listened to interviews with survivors. I saw videos of atrocities committed by Hamas in southern Israel and news reports about the increasing number of innocent civilians being killed in the devastated Gaza Strip.
…
Two weeks after the current war began, I took the plunge and started driving again. [Palestinian] Take the children to the hospital. My own adult children were against this, but I was determined to go. The night before her first road trip since the war began, her husband and I decided that he would accompany us just in case. My son scoffed at this: Please do it yourself if necessary. he said with a wry smile. I don’t want to lose my parents if something happens to me. We woke up at 5am, made coffee, and waited for the coordinator’s green light. The rules have changed. Rather than waiting for passengers in the Tarkumia parking lot, passengers were instructed to leave the house only if they cleared security. At 6:30 a.m., we got a call and we drove to Tarkmia in silence. The road leading to the checkpoint was deserted. Since October 7, Palestinians have been prohibited from leaving the West Bank to work in Israel.
We arrived at the parking lot and got out of the car. A shocked little black-haired boy and his father were waiting on the other side of the parking lot. I hesitated as the soldier approached me. I then fumbled for the driver’s license and passenger details that had been sent to me earlier. Judd, 3, was accompanied by his father. Suddenly, a little boy waved at me from across the street and I waved back as they walked toward my car. His father spoke some Hebrew. We introduced ourselves, quickly strapped Judd into his booster, and drove away. 10 minutes later I dropped her husband off at the intersection below the house. relieved. I was doing the right thing. This boy should receive treatment. he didn’t take part in the war I thought. On this first trip, I was focused on the task at hand: getting Judd to the hospital. An hour later, I said goodbye to them outside the pediatric ward at Sheba Medical Center. While his father was busy retrieving an overnight case from the trunk of my car, I unbuckled Judd from his booster and he held out his arm and smiled at me. Shukran, Shukran, thank yousaid his father, as I held him in my arms for a while. And what I wanted to say was No, thank you for trusting me with your child.Thank you for reminding us that we can still find empathy and love in this broken world. I watched them disappear behind the hospital’s glass doors, then turned on the radio.
Madhuri Sastry, one of the publishers who resigned, called Cheng’s essay “a hand-wringed apology for Zionism and the ongoing genocide in Palestine” (as shown above, this claim (which directly contradicts the actual content of the text).
I have decided to step down from my position as co-publisher of Guernica Magazine.
Liberate Palestine. pic.twitter.com/7mF21mbne9
— Madhuri Sastry (@Chicks_Balances) March 10, 2024
GuernicaIt’s the name of a Spanish city and also the title of an iconic anti-war painting by Pablo Picasso, but the editor’s note indicates where the article was published. Long time ago: “Guernica regrets publishing this article and has retracted it. A more detailed explanation follows.”
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT) on Sirius XM Patriot. He is the author of the recent book, The Zionist Conspiracy (And How to Participate in It), now available on Audible. He is also the author of an e-book. Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 US Presidential Election. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpolak.
