Operation: Balaam's mule: A satire of the BDS campaign (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions)
David Mandel's novel "Operation Balaam’s mule" is a satire on the current BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) anti-Israel campaign of delegitimization and false accusations of apartheid and genocide. The author uses, with ingenuity and display of humor, the literary technique of the roman à clef presenting under the mantle of fiction situations and people some with fictitious names and some with their real names.
The character of the financier George Tzures, who hires a group of people to accuse and condemn Israel, is based on the anti-Zionist billionaire George Soros who uses his fortune to support anti-Israeli organizations and campaigns. Professor Asher Reubeni of the novel, anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian fanatic, is inspired by Professor Ilan Pappe, self-exiled to a provincial university in England, author of history books that falsify and distort the historical facts.
Simultaneously, "Operation Balaam’s mule" is a contemporary version of the biblical account of Balaam, the seer who was hired to curse the Israelite people, but ended up blessing him.