Professor Mordechai Kremnitzer, signed petition
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Eldad Yaniv, 'We'll distributed book ourselves'
Petition: Boycott Tzomet Sfarim
Following Ynet exposure of bookstore chain's plans to remove political doctrine 'The National Left' from shelves, dozens of academics sign petition calling for boycott, say chain must be made to apologize, vow never to succumb to political pressures again
The storm that followed bookstore chain Tzomet Sfarim's decision to stop selling the political doctrine "The National Left" after coming under pressure from rightist elements, has not subsided.
Following hundreds of online comments to the affair, which was first published on Ynet, dozens of Israeli academics, doctors and professors signed a petition to boycott the bookstore chain.
"We the undersigned, academics, researches, and public figures, reject, with disgust, the decision of the Tzomet Sfarim's management to remove from its shelves the book: 'The National Left'," the petition reads.
Political Manifesto
Attile Somfalvi
Tzomet Sfarim stops distribution of The National Left after right-wing sources put pressure on management. Book contains harsh criticism of settlers, settlement enterprise. Shulamit Aloni: Settlers do whatever they want
Among the academics who signed the petition are law Professor Mordechai Kremnitzer, and political scientist Professor Yaron Ezrahi.
"Removing any book from the bookshelves due to ideological-political pressure, is wrong and hurts the core of democracy, and constitutes an critical blow to the public's freedom of expression and freedom of choice.
"Tzomet Sfarim's succumbing to ideological-political pressure is a serious threat to the foundation of Israeli democracy."
The petition continues to say, "We therefore urge anyone who holds democracy dear, to go out and condemn the Tzomet Sfarim chain, and to apply pressure on it to return the book to its shelves. In addition, the chain's management should be demanded to apologize and commit that it will not remove books from its shelves due to ideological-political pressure in the future."
The chain's decision was revealed by Ynet on Sunday, and stirred the fury of the Israeli Left. Former Meretz Chairwoman Shulamit Aloni said in response that Israel has become a fascist and anti-democratic state, and said, "The settlers rule the land."
Attorney Eldad Yaniv, one of the writers of the book told Ynet of the authors' creative response to the chain's decision: "We intend to take hundreds of thousands of copies left after they sold 5,000 in three days, and distribute them for free at the weekend on campuses and at universities."
