This is not my usual bookish content. But book content creators, authors, and public figures are being asked to speak up in regards to the conflict occurring in Palestine, so this is my contribution as a writer. This post is an adaptation of scripts I wrote for upcoming video content on my social media platforms.

What do these words mean?

In order to discuss sensitive topics, we need to be certain we know what we’re talking about. I have done my best to research what’s going on and what’s being discussed. Let’s start with some definitions, paraphrased from the cited sources.

• Genocide: an internationally recognized crime where acts are committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. (US Holocaust Memorial Museum)
• Zionism: a Jewish nationalist movement with the goal of creating a Jewish national state in Palestine. The creation of the State of Israel in 1948 accomplished this goal by separating what was then Palestine into separate countries, Palestine and Israel. Since then Israel has taken more land that was once Palestine. (Britannica)
• Antisemitism: a certain perception of Jews, often expressed as hatred toward Jews, with hateful rhetoric and/or physical action directed toward Jewish individuals, their property, their community institutions, and/or their religious facilities. (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance)
• Hamas: an Islamic Palestinian terrorist group based in the western Palestinian territory of Gaza. The rival political party Fatah is based in the territory of West Bank and has denounced Hamas’ actions. (Council on Foreign Relations)

What is happening?

• Current-day Palestine is made of two territories, Gaza in the west and West Bank on the eastern side. Israel currently rules the land between these two territories.
• Following an attack on Israel by the terrorist group Hamas in October 2023, modern Israel is fighting to eradicate Palestinians in Gaza and take that territory. Since the beginning of this current conflict, Israel has also ramped up violence in the West Bank territory.
• Israel is using the terrorist group Hamas as an excuse to attack all of Palestine. A country with the military resources that Israel has, has the ability to do targeted reconnaissance and strikes, and does not have any excuse for the number of civilian deaths and the amount of cultural damage they are doing. Hamas is also not present in the West Bank territory, which is still under attack from Israel.
• Israel is targeting and killing journalists to prevent the rest of the world from knowing what they are doing.
• Israel is cutting off supplies, including medicine, hygiene products, food, and water, to Palestine.
• Israel is bombing Palestine, with targets including hospitals and libraries.
• Israel’s goal is to eradicate both the people and the culture of Palestinians. This is genocide.
• Conflict between Israel and Palestine goes back generations, but no history can justify genocide.

Sources include Council on Foreign Relations (What is Hamas?), Foreign Affairs (Why Hamas Attacked—and Why Israel Was Taken by Surprise), and The New Yorker (What’s Behind Israel’s Crackdown on the West Bank?), as well as TikToks by Palestinian and BIPOC content creators.

What can I do?

• Support the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Committee’s consumer and grassroots boycotts. Do not spend money on McDonalds, Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, Papa John’s Pizza, Wix website platform, Chevron gas stations (including CalTex and Texaco), PUMA sportswear and products, Ahava cosmetics, SodaStream products, Siemens electronics, or HP electronics, and any products labeled “Product of Israel” in the grocery store (usually produce and wine). A non-BDS boycott also in action right now is Starbucks.
• Buy eSIM cards for Palestinian civilians to continue communicating with the outside world, at gazaesims.com.
• If you make any content online about books, support the Readers for Accountability St. Martin’s Press boycott. Do not post any content about or showing books published by St. Martin’s Press or its imprints, including Wednesday Books, Griffin, Minotaur, and Castle Point Books.
• Also for fellow book content creators: preorder, make library requests, and promote books by Palestinian authors.

Books by Palestinian Authors Releasing in 2024

• Behind You Is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraq
• Against Erasure by Teresa Aranguren and Sandra Barrilaro
• The Moon That Turns You Back by Hala Alyan
• The Coin by Yasmin Zaher
• A Map for Falasteen by Maysha Oden
• Something More by Jackie Khalilieh
• How to Beat Your Rival in Ten Weeks by Malia Rose