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Feature

Amos Oz accused of ‘sadistic abuse’ by daughter Galia in new memoir

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Published: 25 February 2021

Last updated: 4 March 2024

‘My father beat, cursed, and humiliated me… this wasn’t an occasional slap on the face, but a routine of serial abuse,’ Galia wrote; her mother and siblings have defended their father

Amos Oz accused of 'sadistic abuse' by daughter in new memoir (Guardian)
Galia Oz claims late author – hailed as Israel’s greatest – beat and humiliated her in childhood, but siblings say they remember him differently

Book quotes include the following:

“During my childhood, my father beat, cursed, and humiliated me,” she wrote.

“The abuse was creative: He would drag me around the house and throw me onto the stoop outside. He would call me garbage. He didn’t lose his cool and this wasn’t an occasional slap on the face, but a routine of serial abuse,” she said.

“My crime was that I am me, and so the punishment was unending. He needed to be sure I was broken.”

Memoir by Amos Oz’s daughter divides family and shocks Israel (NYT)
“He told me I was filth,” Galia Oz writes in her book, Something Disguised as Love, among other accusations of physical and emotional abuse. Her mother and siblings have defended their late father.

Amos Oz's daughter calls not to boycott his work, after accusing him of abuse (Haaretz)
Oz was interviewed on Tuesday about her new book, in which she writes about the violence she suffered from her father, the renowned Israeli author. 'The attacker can live his entire life in dignity, but when the victim starts to tell the story she is asked why she’s talking'
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