UK
Amazon urged to withdraw ‘antisemitic propaganda’ children’s book
The book features a swastika and Israeli flag on the same page and a Chasid holding an ‘End apartheid’ placard
December 5, 2023 14:41
The book features a swastika and Israeli flag on the same page and a Chasid holding an ‘End apartheid’ placard
December 5, 2023 14:41Legal advocacy group UK Lawyers for Israel has called on Amazon to withdraw a pro-Palestinian children’s book which it accuses of being ‘anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda’.
‘Zain and Mima Stand for Palestine’, written by Eman Kourtam, an Egyptian-American who lives in Califonia, states that it is printed by Amazon in the UK.
In the book, a mother tells her two children the story of Palestine, prompted by hearing demonstrators outside their house chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.
The demonstrators include a ringleted Chasid holding an “End apartheid” placard and a boy wearing a kippah wearing a t-shirt with the slogan “Just another Jew Standing 4 Palestine”.
It claims that Herzl wanted to make Israel “the Jewish-only state” and “kick out everyone who was not a Zionist”.
In a letter to Amazon, UKLFI director Caroline Turner said the book teaches “shocking anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda”.
The book “demonises “Zionists’ but since most Jews and Israelis are Zionists, the book is also demonising Jews and Israelis,” she argued.
Illustrations of a Nazi swastika and of an Israeli flag on the same page also imply “that Jews are like Nazis”, Ms Turner said. The accompanying text reads: “The sad thing is the cruelty is being repeated by Zionists treating Palestinians the same unfair way they were treated.”
The book, she said, “compares Israelis to Nazis - this is a classic antisemitic trope, according to the IHRA definition of antisemitism”.
She also complained that the book directs children to support the BDS movement.
In response, Amazon told her that they were “taking this very seriously” and would “ensure the right teams look into the product”.
Amazon told the JC it would not be making a comment.
On an Instagram account called zainandmimasadventures, Ms Kourtam said last week that Amazon had removed the book from sale, saying that it “violates their guidelines”.
But in a subsequent post, she said that within hours she had received another message from Amazon “apologising for incorrectly suppressing my book” which would be available again within 48 hours.
The JC approached her for comment via the Instagram account.