PEN America President Resigns Over Israel Boycott Dispute

Dinaw Mengestu resigned as PEN America president Thursday, seven months after taking the role, after objecting to the free-expression group's article on Israeli and Jewish writers and its opposition to cultural and academic boycotts. Reports said Mengestu called that approach unethical because he believed it could portray the anti-Israel BDS movement as discriminatory rather than protected political speech. PEN's article documented rising isolation of Israeli and Jewish writers, including publication barriers, event cancellations and pressure to strip Jewish or Israeli identity from work. PEN also said it opposes efforts that inhibit the free international exchange of literature while defending writers' right to advocate boycotts without retaliation. The dispute shows how anti-Israel cultural boycotts keep testing free-speech institutions.