The summer’s bloodletting in the Gaza Strip has stopped, but the discourse on war that Israel’s assault sparked in the U.S. rages on. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Hollywood, where celebrity criticism of Israel led to recriminations from pro-Israel stars and threats to blacklist those who spoke out against the military operation. The entertainment industry is splitting over Israel in the wake of that state’s punishing attack on Palestinians in Gaza.

The Brooklyn Book Festival is a highlight of New York City’s early autumn cultural lineup: a bibliophile carnival with back-to-back panel discussions featuring prominent authors from the United States and around the world.

A petition protesting partial Israeli government financing of a Sunday panel event of the Brooklyn Book Festival, attended by prominent Israeli novelist Assaf Gavron, attracted hundreds of signatories, including notable authors such as Pulitzer Prize-winner Juno Diaz ("This Is How You Lose Her"), Elif Batuman ("The Possessed"), Brooklyn Book Festival participants and famous music critic of New Yorker magazine, Sasha Frere-Jones.

You can read the petition here. I think it's pretty straight forward. At issue is the sponsorship of a panel by Israel's Office of Cultural Affairs in New York. That's an embassy-hosted effort that does a lot of presenting art from Israel in a variety of settings. A sponsored book panel seems just the kind of thing they'd be interested in doing. The objection by those signing the petition is described at length and is based on Israeli policy in Palestine.