The 86‑year‑old South African‑born author, widely regarded as the world’s most decorated living writer, wrote to the festival’s artistic director, Julia Fermento-Tzaisler, in November explaining why he would not attend the event scheduled for 25‑28 May.
Coetzee said he wished to state the grounds for his refusal. “For the past two years the state of Israel has been conducting a genocidal campaign in Gaza that has been vastly disproportionate to the murderous provocation of 7 October 2023”, he wrote. He added that the genocide, carried out by the Israeli occupation forces, “appears to have had the enthusiastic support of the vast majority of Israel’s population”.
The author argued that no significant segment of Israeli society, including its intellectual and arts community, can claim to be exempt from responsibility for the atrocities in Gaza.
The Nobel laureate disclosed that he had previously considered himself sympathetic to “Israel”. “Until recently Israel enjoyed a broad measure of support in the West. I would number myself among such supporters”, he wrote.
He explained that he had kept telling himself that the Israelis would eventually have a change of heart and deliver some form of justice to the Palestinians whose land they had taken over. It was in that spirit that he visited occupied al-Quds in 1987 to receive the Jerusalem Prize.
However, Coetzee declared that “the campaign of annihilation in Gaza has changed all that”. He noted that long‑time supporters of “Israel” have turned away in revulsion at the actions of the Israeli military. “It will take many years for Israel to clear its name, assuming that it wishes to do so, and to re‑establish itself in the international community”.
