Why My Novel About the IDF Was Silenced
My novel about Israeli soldiers was rejected over 215 times. The publishing world’s quiet boycott of Israel.
The slogan “Death to the IDF” is now in fashion — yet another example of the demonization of an army without which Israel would have ceased to exist.
I wrote a novel called Storm in the Shadow, which lets you peek behind the scenes of the IDF, to see that at the heart of Israel’s army have always stood human values and high moral principles. And if you ever get to read it, you’ll understand that the blood libels directed against the IDF and the State of Israel have no foundation whatsoever.
Oh, right — one small detail: you can’t read it, because no one wants to publish this novel.
Over the past ten months, I’ve received more than 150 rejections from literary agencies in the U.S., and another 65 from the UK. And now the rejections are starting to come in from publishers that do accept unsolicited manuscripts.
Want to know why?
You may say I’m mistaken or not fully aware of what’s going on — but the facts tell a different story and paint a bleak picture of the literary world.
I looked into it and came across literary agents who make no effort to hide their preferences, and who openly compare Zionism to Nazism and terrorism.
Does this suggest bias? Just look at their profiles — and at the investigation I published earlier.
To make sure there’s no doubt about the scale of what’s happening, here’s a quote from The Guardian article “Sally Rooney, Rachel Kushner and Arundhati Roy call for boycott of Israeli cultural institutions”:
“We, as writers, publishers, literary festival workers, and other book workers, publish this letter as we face the most profound moral, political and cultural crisis of the 21st century,” begins the statement, which goes on to say that Israel has killed “at the very least 43,362” Palestinians in Gaza since last October, and that this follows “75 years of displacement, ethnic cleansing and apartheid”.
Let me add: this boycott affects Jewish and Israeli authors — anyone writing about Israel, Zionism, and especially the army.
This cancellation campaign has reached unprecedented proportions. Several literary festivals have denied participation to numerous Israeli authors. And we can only guess how many people in the publishing world are actively participating in this.
So yes, I’ve seen this firsthand.
Sometimes the antisemitic undertone is veiled, and sometimes it’s right out in the open. In most cases, it’s disguised as anti-Zionism — and in professional circles, rejection templates are the norm so people can save face if questioned.
7,000+ AUTHORS AND BOOK WORKERS JOIN HISTORIC BOYCOTT AGAINST COMPLICIT ISRAELI PUBLISHERS
If a literary agent’s public profile on X includes a link to a website that collects donations “for Palestine,” what do you think the odds are that a manuscript from an Israeli author will be received and reviewed without bias?
It might be worth visiting that site first — it speaks for itself.
My first thread, where I looked into the reasons behind the many rejections, caught the attention of Neil Blair and Mark Richards.
Despite their interest, they weren’t able to offer actual help. Their concern was that my novel wouldn’t attract engaged readers at this time and therefore wouldn’t be commercially viable.
I’m sincerely grateful to them for engaging, and I valued our conversations.
But I didn’t give up — I went further and launched a unique beta reader initiative to challenge their concerns and prove that the novel resonates.
Within just a few days, I received over forty responses — and the feedback showed that readers were waiting for a novel like this.
You might ask if I reached out to influential people and asked for help. Yes, I spoke with several very well-known individuals, and I won’t name them because I deeply respect their work and the time they’ve devoted to fighting anti-Israel disinformation and educating the public on this issue.
But I couldn’t spark enough interest for them to offer help.
Still, I didn’t give up. I kept submitting. And once again, I ran into publishers who — as the screenshots below show — are open only to one narrative.
This is where the link shared by the publisher leads:
So what is my novel Storm in the Shadow about?
I’ve quoted several posts where I describe this in detail, but if you’ve read this far and haven’t seen the related threads, I’ll repeat it here.
This novel tells the story of new recruits in the Nahal Brigade as they face military reality and have to grow up faster than they thought.
What makes the novel unique is its detailed, almost documentary-level depiction of basic training — what young men go through, day after day, before they become real soldiers.
It’s a story of brotherhood, friendship, love, and self-sacrifice — based on real events, taking you back to the late 1990s.
It also offers a view of Israel’s history and key moments. I’m certain this is a novel the world needs right now — and Israel and the IDF most of all — and everyone who’s tired of watching the Jewish state being relentlessly attacked when all it wants is peace, and continues to fight for its existence.
At this stage, I’m not considering self-publishing — due to the serious risks involved.
Once a novel is self-published, no literary agent or publisher will touch it again (though it’s hard to say how many fair and unbiased ones are left in the industry).
Marketing without strong support is impossible, and the book simply won’t reach readers — not because it’s not worth it, but because they’ll never know it exists.
If you look at every successful novel, it had blurbs and reviews from influential voices six months before publication — and by the time it was released, interest had already peaked.
I haven’t given up. I’m still sending submissions. And still receiving rejections.
But this won’t break me.
If you believe you can help — or if you have contacts among influential people or publishers willing to challenge the status quo and not be afraid to publish my novel, written in the genre of upmarket military history fiction (130,000 words) — my DMs are open.
Here’s the link to the post above, which I originally published as a thread on X.
Thank you for reading to the end.
As public opinion turns against Israel, we can only redouble our efforts to be heroes in our own spheres of influence.
Mr. Livschitz, where can your novel be found/purchased?