The heaviness that lies over this Frankfurt Book Fair can be seen in the depth of Meron Mendel’s dark circles under his eyes. It’s obvious that someone here has had little or no sleep over the past few nights. “Because the faces of the dead still appear to me every day and every night,” said the head of the Anne Frank educational center on Wednesday at a PEN Berlin panel at the start of the fair. Mendel speaks with the author Tomer Dotan-Dreyfus and the Viennese author Doron Rabinovici on the topic “Concerned for Israel”, moderated by Esther Schapira, who first of all calls for a minute’s silence. A depressing hour, entirely dedicated to the Israeli perspective, in which the panel guests circle around their own speechlessness and defend themselves against the little word “but”.
Frankfurt Book Fair on the war in Israel: Talking about speechlessness – culture
