December 12, 2023, 10:36am
A Roosevelt Island couple has proudly checked out five children’s books about the Palestinian experience, vowing not to return them so as to protect the good people of New York from blatant “indoctrination.” According the NY Post:
The books — for children as young as 3 — were prominently on display at the New York Public Library branch during “Read Palestine Week,” with several titles about Palestinians arranged in a “indigenous people’s” display with books about Native Americans.
As Asaf Eyal—whose wife bravely checked out the books in defense of Israel—told The Post: “It’s pretty easy to understand what they’re doing. They are trying to connect between these two identities, and make Israel and Jews look as if we are colonizers and not indigenous to our land.”
I would suggest that Mr. Eyal is correct in this assertion (and that there’s nothing particularly wrong about the display’s intent).
The Post then goes on to print a passage from one of the books—We’re in This Together, by Linda Sarsour—as if it’s some kind of gotcha. It is not.
An international organization called the United Nations decided that Jewish people from Europe, many of whom had experienced the horrors and tragedies of the Holocaust, needed a safe place to live, but there was one big problem: Palestinians had lived on that land for centuries.
Of course, if someone took your land, you would do everything in your power to get it back. So, ever since their displacement, Palestinians and other people of Arab descent have been fighting back against this injustice. This is called intifada — the uprising against the Israeli Occupation of places where Palestinians have historically lived.
The article goes on to complain about pro-LGBTQ NYPL displays and quotes some ass-hat from the Heritage Foundation about the pernicious ubiquity of the woke agenda (my words, not his). As risible as all this hand-wringing is (as hundreds of Palestinian children die each day) it’s indicative of a broad and opportunistic strategy by the American right to further dismantle our institutions of learning—specifically the university and the public library. It’s awful.
In the face of these deeply cynical, anti-democratic operators, I highly recommend buying the following books for your children:
Linda Sarsour, We’re in This Together
“An empowering young readers edition of We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders, the memoir by Women’s March coorganizer and activist Linda Sarsour that’s ‘equal parts inspiring, emotional, and informative.’”
Aya Ghanameh, These Olive Trees
“The story of a Palestinian family’s ties to the land, and how one young girl finds a way to care for her home, even as she says goodbye.”
Reem Kassis and Noha Eilouti, We Are Palestinian
“From culture and food, to music and literature, We Are Palestinian is a celebration of Palestinian heritage.”
Hannah Moushabeck and Reem Madooh, Homeland
“As bedtime approaches, three young girls eagerly await the return of their father who tells them stories of a faraway homeland—Palestine.”
Anne Laurel Carter and Akin Duzakin, What the Kite Saw
“In this memorable story, a young boy finds solace flying his kite from the rooftop after soldiers take his father and brother away.”