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The owner of the store has condemned the move, saying the cancellation was the work of a rogue employee who would be fired.
By United with Israel and Luke Tress, JTA
A Brooklyn bookstore has drawn widespread backlash for canceling an event with a Jewish author just an hour before the event, telling him they “would not permit a Zionist on the premises.”
Powerhouse Arena, in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Dumbo, was set to host a launch event Tuesday evening for “Tablets Shattered,” a new book on American Jewish life by Joshua Leifer, a Jewish journalist who has written for a range of left-wing publications including Jewish Currents and +972.
“Less than an hour before the launch of my book Tablets Shattered, a conversation with Rabbi Andy Bachman, powerHouse Books [sic] in Brooklyn told me they are unwilling to host the conversation with Andy because they would not permit a Zionist on the premises,” Leifer wrote on X.
“I wrote this book to explore debates within American Jewish life, which of course includes many people who identify as Zionists. My biggest worry was about synagogues not wanting to host me. I didn’t think it would be bookstores in Brooklyn that would be closing their doors,” he also said.
Bachman recounted on Facebook that “When I spoke to Josh, who was on his way to the event with his family, he said the store told him that they cancelled the event because I was a Zionist.” He said Leifer had spoken to the shopkeepers for several minutes once he arrived, but they refused to change their position.
“This rank and delusional antisemitism is outrageous,” Bachman wrote. “What we are now seeing is nothing short of Stalinist or Maoist thinking; a moral flattening of the political sphere; a social movement predicated on loyalty and purity tests that at this point can only tolerate, at best, one kind of Jew.”
“Our planned conversation last night was exactly the kind of conversation and dialogue our world needs: one based in discourse, disagreement, civility, and shared human values,” Bachman also said.
However, Daniel Power, the bookstore owner, agreed that the cancellation was wrong, and said he was not informed of the decision before it happened.
“It’s hideous, it’s uncalled for, and it was completely unauthorized,” Power told the New York Jewish Week in an interview published Wednesday, saying that the employee “is going to be terminated today” and that he would try to reschedule the event.
He described the cancellation as the work of a rogue employee, whom he declined to identify. Initially, in a post on X, Power said Leifer’s publicist had canceled the event after speaking with the employee.
“This staffer, for reasons we do not know, Googled the moderator [Bachman] and decided to say something to the publicist,” Power said. “It’s not our normal procedure to question anything once it’s been signed up. If the events coordinator felt the book didn’t fit our profile we would have never scheduled it for an event.”
Power said that the staffer did not mention Zionism when he first asked her about it, and that he confronted her again after reading about the cancellation in a New York Post article. Leifer, who did not respond to a request for comment, provided the Post with an audio recording of the encounter with the staffer, who reportedly says on the tape, “We don’t want a Zionist on our stage.”
Power said, “I read it in the New York Post. I’m like, ‘What the f—?’ And she goes, ‘I might’ve said it, I don’t remember.’”
New York Jewish Week said the publishing company, Dutton, an affiliate of Penguin Random House, did not respond to a request for comment.
According to Power, the employee was due to leave for a job at another bookstore next week. He said that she may have been motivated by “sabotage, pointing out that the bookstore has previously hosted Jewish and Zionist authors, including a March event with Naama Shefi, who writes about Jewish food and runs a culinary institute in Tel Aviv.
Powerhouse also has locations in Park Slope and Industry City in Brooklyn. Power said the stores had made an effort to display both pro- and anti-Israel books, and discourage staff from promoting their own politics.
“We welcome people of all faiths, all manners of thought, philosophies,” he said. “But we do have a lot of young people who believe it’s their right to express their political opinions inside the retail environment. I’ve worked hard since the war began — like, ‘We cannot do this.’”
He added, “If you go to a restaurant or a deli they serve you no matter who you are. A bookstore is no different but young people tend to think that it’s different because it’s a retailer of ideas that are inside book covers.”
Bachman faced a similar situation in December, when he was heckled at Hunter College while discussing “Israelism,” a film that features extensive criticism of Israel.
“Jews, like every other nation on earth with a homeland, have a right to self determination, and that’s what makes me a Zionist,” he said. “I don’t agree with the policies of the current government, I don’t agree with the way they’re waging the war. That doesn’t mean I disavow or deny Israel’s right to exist.”
Jewish community leaders and political officials in New York City condemned the Powerhouse incident as antisemitic.
New York Rep. Dan Goldman said he was a friend of Bachman and called the incident “unacceptable antisemitism, plain and simple.”
New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, an outspoken supporter of Israel, tweeted, “The far left is making “Zionists” (i.e. most Jews) the exception to progressivism’s rule against discrimination.”
Jill Jacobs, a prominent progressive Jewish community leader and the CEO of the T’ruah group, called the cancellation “completely ridiculous.”
“It is antisemitic to demand that Jews disavow Israel before being allowed into your space,” Jacobs said on X.
Mark Treyger, the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, said the conduct was “Hateful, shameful, and harmful.”
“Every New Yorker should be outraged by this vile and venomous antisemitism because it is an affront to every New Yorker.” Donate to vital charities that help protect Israeli citizens and inspire millions around the world to support Israel too! Now more than ever, Israel needs your help to fight and win the war -- including on the battlefield of public opinion. Antisemitism, anti-Israel bias and boycotts are out of control. Israel's enemies are inciting terror and violence against innocent Israelis and Jews around the world. Help us fight back!
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