For Immediate Release
Date: 9 April 2026
Contact: Kevin Doyle 087-6805517 or email kfoyle1@gmail.com
Irish Writers Union to vote on joining the cultural boycott of Israel.
Dublin, Ireland - The Irish Writers Union, the representative body of writers in Ireland, will decide at their AGM this Saturday (April 11) on joining the cultural boycott of Israel. If the union votes in favour of a boycott, it will make the IWU the first major writers’ body in Europe to formally join the cultural boycott of Israel. The motion to the AGM reads. “This AGM agrees that the Irish Writers Union will pledge its support to the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). PACBI advocates for a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions for their deep and persistent complicity in Israel’s denial of Palestinian rights stipulated in international law."
The motion is being proposed by two Cork writers, Kevin Doyle and William Wall. Mr Doyle said: “Currently, close to 2500 Irish artists and writers have signed individual pledges in support of the cultural boycott of Israel. However, it is vital that representative organisations of writers and artists also join the boycott. The boycott worked against South Africa, and it can be effective against Israel too.”
William Wall said: “The motion being debated is a simple one if we see it in the context of history. The question is do we support a call from a people undergoing genocide to shun the economy of the people who are committing that genocide.” Mr Wall added, “Let us not fall into the trap of saying that everything began on October 7th, 2023. Nor is our motion limited to the situation in Gaza. Every day life is being made unliveable for the Palestinians of East Jerusalem. Every day we see state sponsored settlers brutalising Palestinian farmers and villagers in the West Bank.”
In regard to the boycott, Mr Doyle said: “The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel focuses primarily on cultural organisations linked to the state of Israel rather than individual artists. Israel is trying to present itself as “normal” when in fact it is an apartheid state. Art and culture are used by Israel to “wash” its image internationally. Our motion challenges that.”
Notes for the editor:
The Irish Writers Union’s AGM will be held in Dublin on Saturday April 11th from 2-5 pm. Further information from Conor McAnally (085-2551936), IWU Chairperson. The IWU’s email is info.irishwritersunion@
Palestinian Campaign for the Cultural and Academic Boycott of Isreal (PACBI) a part of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), a campaign that upholds the principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity.
Kevin Doyle is a novelist, short story writer and children’s book author. He was Chairperson of the IWU from 2021-2023.
William Wall is the author of seven novels, five collections of poetry and three volumes of short stories. His searing poem Eyeless in Gaza featured on the cover of the Irish Examiner last year.
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