Booker Nominations For Oz and Grossman Bring Out Anti-Semitic Trolls

Amos Oz. Image by DPA/Getty Images
The tiny but close-knit world of Hebrew translation is cheering for David Grossman and Amos Oz and their respective translators, Jessica Cohen and Nicholas de Lange — but the anti-Semites on Twitter are jeering, and Amos Oz’s daughter stepped into the fray this morning with a pithy response.
Grossman’s novel, “A Horse Walks into a Bar,” and Oz’s novel, “Judas,” both made the prestigious International Man Booker Prize shortlist. The 50,000 pound ($64,000) prize is split between writer and translator.
In response to an AP story about the shortlist, Henry Makow (@HenryMakow) tweeted:
Jews spearhead Rothschild cultural monopoly. 4 of 6 finalists are Jewish
That got Fania Oz-Sulzberger’s attention. A historian and the co-author of Jews and Words, which she wrote with her famous father, Amos, she tweeted this as a response:
“Quintessential vintage Antisemitism: Jews control literature. I almost love it.”
Aviya Kushner is The Forward’s language columnist and the author of The Grammar of God (Spiegel &Grau). Follow her on Twitter at @AviyaKushner
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
