Israel’s best-known novelist, Amos Oz, this week declared himself to be “very angry” with the Israeli government over its Gaza incursion, and insisted that the operation should have been restricted to just 48 hours. It had been, he said, “very cruel”, and had resulted in “unjustified loss of life” among the civilian population.
But Mr Oz, speaking on the opening night of Jewish Book Week to a capacity audience, nevertheless cautioned that criticism of Israel, while legitimate, should be tempered with “solidarity” for the Jewish state.
This year’s festival, which ends on March 1, has seen an upsurge in ticket sales and attendances compared to last year, when the event was hit by the pull-out of several headline names.
By Monday, the main 550-seat venue at the Royal National Hotel, central London, had hosted four evening sell-outs: both of Amos Oz’s events, Jonathan Miller’s conversation with Mark Lawson and Simon Schama’s talk on American politics.
