Jewish Writer Banned from Europe’s Literary Festivals

The West complains that foreign journalists are not allowed to enter Gaza. But a Jewish writer being barred from a book fair in France in 2025, what is that?

The participation of writer and essayist Raphaël Enthoven in the Besançon literary festival has been canceled. “Raphaël Enthoven’s recent controversial statements risk compromising the smooth running of the literary festival,” a spokesperson said. “Under these circumstances, the organizer, Grand Besançon Métropole, asked the event service provider to cancel his participation at the end of September.”

Enthoven had declared: “There are no journalists in Gaza. Only murderers, fighters, or kidnappers with press cards. We know dozens of proven cases of fake ‘journalists’ who were in fact Hamas fighters or kidnappers. How many examples are there of journalists free to work in Gaza who are in no way linked to the terrorist organization?”

Enthoven has received insults and death threats. Then came the cancellation. In July, the documentary God Can Defend Himself was not shown at the cinema in Saint-Ouen, Seine-Saint-Denis. The film, which recounts the trial for the Charlie Hebdo attack, was canceled. Officially “to avoid any political debate.” Unofficially? Fear.

Jewish comedians Philip Simon and Rachel Creeger saw their shows canceled at the Edinburgh Fringe, the international satire gathering on the Royal Mile, for what the organizers called “security concerns” (Palestinian Arab poets never seem to have any security problems).

Deprogrammed like Ehud Olmert, who, although he now spends more time criticizing Israel in the Western press, is still seen as the former Israeli prime minister who waged two wars, in Gaza and Lebanon. Thus, the mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi, revoked the sponsorship that the city had granted to the event “Falafel and Democracy.” The very presence of Olmert had sparked a series of controversies, with the left accusing him of being “responsible for Operation Cast Lead.”

Meanwhile, at an international chess tournament in the Spanish Basque Country, Israeli players were forbidden from competing under their own flag and were forced either to use the neutral flag of the International Chess Federation or to withdraw entirely. And to think that the motto of the International Chess Federation is Gens una sumus, which in Latin means “we are one family.” Or almost.

It seems that there is not much freedom of speech in Gaza, and that Europe is not doing much better. All that’s missing is a sign saying that Jewish dogs are not allowed at literary festivals.

Published originally on September 8, 2025, under the title “Here We Are: Jewish Writer Banned from Europe’s Literary Festivals.”