LONDON: PEN America pledged to keep defending Palestinian writers after its president resigned in protest over what he called the organization’s “unethical” and unfair treatment of Palestinians compared with Israelis and Jewish Americans. The literary and free expression group issued its response after Dinaw Mengestu, an Ethiopian-American novelist and PEN America president, said he was stepping down because the organization had failed to uphold its commitment to defend free expression equally and had diminished the Palestinian experience.

Dinaw Mengestu cited Pen's anti-BDS stance, arguing that boycotts of Israeli creatives is a form of protected free speech

“It’s the First Amendment that allows all of us to engage in boycotts, not PEN America,” Mengestu told the Atlantic. “PEN America as a free expression organization is supposed to…