Novelist’s sales double after Israel slam book as ‘threat’ to Jewish identity

An novelist who wrote a love story between a Palestinian artist and an Israeli woman had been selected for the national curriculum in Israel to be abruptly withdrawn by the education ministry because of its subject matter.

Dorit Rabinyan’s third book – All the Rivers – was described by the education ministry as a ‘threat to Jewish identity’ as the story is about a non-Jew and a Jew having a romantic connection.

A ministry official told British daily The Guardian, “Intimate relations, and certainly the available option of institutionalizing them by marriage and starting a family – even if that does not happen in the story – between Jews and non-Jews, are seen by large portions of society as a threat on the separate identities (of Arabs and Jews).”

However, fortunately for Rabinyans, the attempt at censorship had a positive aspect.

Sales of her novel have doubled since it became under the spotlight of the government in January 2016. It is now being translated into 20 languages and last month it was published in the UK. While Rabinyan prepares for month’s book tour in the US.

Later, the ministry eventually reviewed its decision and allowed individual teachers to use the book in schools.