Ticket sales for an upcoming literary event in Tashkent by Israel-based writer Dina Rubina have been suspended following widespread controversy over her remarks about the Gaza conflict.
Rubina, born in Tashkent in 1953, was formerly a member of the Uzbekistan Writers’ Union. She moved to Moscow in 1984 and currently resides in Israel, continuing to write in Russian.
Rubina was scheduled to perform at Turkiston Palace in Tashkent on October 10, with tickets sold through box offices and online via iTicket.uz, according to Anons. However, online sales have since been discontinued, and promotional materials on Afisha.uz have been taken down.
The backlash emerged after excerpts from Rubina’s recent interview with Russian television channel Dozhd were widely circulated and criticized. In the interview, aired on July 20, Rubina discussed the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the ensuing violence.
Journalist Mikhail Kozyrev, who conducted the interview, later revealed on his Facebook page that some of Rubina’s more inflammatory statements had been edited out. According to Kozyrev, Rubina had said: “Israel has the right to defend itself. It has the right to dissolve them all in hydrochloric acid, clean Gaza and turn it into a parking lot. There is no civilian population there! One teacher kept an Israeli soldier’s head in a refrigerator, another stored body parts for sale, they are expensive, in a basement. Don’t talk to me about ‘peaceful civilians’.”
Kozyrev explained that the phrases were removed from the broadcast due to their extreme nature, but he later published the full transcript online. This prompted backlash, with some accusing the channel of censorship.
Russian musician Andrei Makarevich criticized Dozhd’s editorial choices, arguing that they “cut out the most important parts.” Kozyrev responded that the remarks were omitted because “such statements should not be made about anyone.”
As the controversy intensified, Rubina posted a statement on July 29 accusing Kozyrev of misrepresenting her words: “Apparently, the interview seemed too mild to the interviewer, so he hastily filled his Facebook page with dirty distortions of my various words and phrases. This is not just falsification; it’s deliberate manipulation of meaning.”
Kozyrev later issued an apology, acknowledging that publishing the unedited transcript was a mistake: “Generalizing about entire nations is destructive. There are no bad nations, only bad people. Even war cannot justify statements like ‘they all must be destroyed’.”
In response, Russian journalist Ilya Azar called for a more humane approach from supporters of Israel. “I saw photos of starving children in Gaza and then read Rubina’s comments,” he wrote on social media. “How can an educated adult, especially Jewish, aware of their history, say or even think this? Yes, the October 7 attack was horrific, but it has already been answered, terrifyingly. People must stop this genocide.”
Kazakh journalist and activist Aigerim Bukeyeva compared Rubina’s remarks to Russian war propaganda: “To the fans of Dina Rubina, who is apparently planning another tour in Kazakhstan, are you eager to see the ‘talented writer’ because of her work or because you share her cannibalistic views? We protest the performances of infamous Russian propagandists, Rubina is no better.”
