Guernica retracts Israeli writer’s essay after Indian American co-publisher quits in protest

Co-publisher Madhuri Sastry says she fears Guernica has ‘permanently damaged relationships with the communities we claim to be in solidarity with’

The literary publication Guernica Magazine has withdrawn an essay penned by an Israeli writer amid a wave of resignations by its staff members, led by its Indian American co-publisher and a fiction editor, in protest against the piece.

Co-publisher Madhuri Sastry tendered her resignation on Sunday, urging the magazine’s editor-in-chief and the other co-publisher, Jina Ngarambe, to step down.

“I am resigning from my position as call publisher of Guernica Magazine due to the publication of ‘From the Edges of a Broken World,” Sastry, a human rights lawyer, wrote in a post on X. “It is, among many other things, a hand-wringing apologia for Zionism and the ongoing genocide in Palestine. I am deeply ashamed to see this piece in Guernica’s pages, and sincerely apologize to writers, readers and supporters who feel betrayed by this decision. I stand by my courageous staff members who have been holding us accountable every step of the way.”

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The essay in question, authored by Joanna Chen, grapples with the Israeli writer’s efforts to forge mutual understanding with Palestinians following the October 7 Hamas attack inside Israel and the Israeli response that resulted in the deaths of more than 30,000 Palestinians.

Although Guernica Magazine did not initially provide an explanation for the retraction over the weekend, it expressed regret for publishing Chen’s piece.

The Guernica webpage that previously hosted Chen’s essay now displays states, “Guernica regrets having published this piece, and has retracted it. A more fulsome explanation will follow.”

The decision to retract the essay came after the public resignation of Sastry and several members of the journal’s volunteer staff. Up to 15 editors and staffers departed, and many, like Sastry, issued their own statements condemning the essay and Guernica’s decision to feature it, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported. Among those who resigned include fiction editor Ishita Marwaha, senior editor April Zhu and poetry editor Cindy Juyoung Ok, according to various media reports.

Terming the essay as “a rank piece of genocide apologia.” Marwah wrote on X that the magazine has become “a pillar of eugenicist white colonialism masquerading as goodness.”

Sastry, an alumnus of the New York University School of Law, stated in her X post that she is not accountable for any editorial decisions made. She requested an explanation regarding how the piece in question was included in the March issue. Sastry expressed particular disappointment because she had previously raised concerns about including Chen’s earlier essay from Guernica in the “Voice on Palestine” compilation for reasons similar to those she now feels make the most recent piece unsuitable for publication in Guernica. Her concerns were acknowledged, and the decision was made to exclude the piece, which she saw as consistent with the publication’s renewed commitment to an editorial policy that avoids featuring work that advocates for those in power.

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“An editorial politics is symbolic or representative of a certain type of institution, which informs peoples’ expectations of Guernica,” Sastry wrote. “I fear we have permanently damaged relationships with the communities we claim to be in solidarity with. I can no longer defend or represent Guernica in my capacity as co-publisher. There is no redemption from this decision, but there must be accountability. I have therefore called for the resignation of the editor-in-chief, as the senior most person responsible for overseeing the processes that resulted in this publication decision.”