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What the New York Times Left Out of Its Jerusalem Bookstore Story
Supporters visit an Educational Bookshop, after Israeli police raided two Educational Bookshops and made arrests, in East Jerusalem, Feb. 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
“Israeli Police Raid Palestinian Bookshops, Another Step in Tightened Restrictions,” is the headline over a New York Times news article.
The headline is itself a fine example of how the Times, instead of just reporting the news, pushes its own interpretive framework onto a story. The risk with that is that sometimes the interpretive framework is tendentious, or, at best, highly selective.
In this case, the Times spins the arrest as evidence of “how Israel is tightening restrictions on free speech and cultural activities for Palestinians across the country.” You wouldn’t know it from reading the Times article, but the event could just as easily and accurately be portrayed as evidence of how even Jerusalem Arabs who appear to be mainstream are involved in glorifying terrorists.
The Times seems to be ridiculing the idea that “books being sold there — including a children’s coloring book — could incite violence.” It mentions a police statement about “a children’s coloring book titled From the Jordan to the Sea,” noting, “The slogan ‘from the river to the sea’ has long been a rallying cry for Palestinian nationalism and is usually interpreted by Israelis as a denial of their country’s right to exist.”
The South African Jewish Report has an account from June 2024 of the same book being removed from shelves of South Africa’s biggest bookstore chain after an outcry.
It reports that “The color-by-number book, which is aimed at children between ages six and 10, says that it ‘introduces young readers to the key concepts driving and sustaining Palestinian resistance.’ This includes a page dedicated to the concept of intifada, which encompasses two violent Palestinian uprisings in which about 1,000 Israelis were killed by suicide bombings in the early 2000s.”
According to the South African Jewish Report, “The book then goes on to tell children that people who die for the Palestinians are ‘martyrs — heroes who have a special place in Palestinian society.’ Children can then color in a picture of the late academic, Refaat Alareer, who described all Jews as ‘evil.’ In a BBC interview, he described the Oct. 7 attack as ‘legitimate and moral.’ He compared the attack to the Warsaw ghetto uprising and accused Israel of fabricating evidence of sexual assault by Hamas on Oct. 7.”
Children “are also given a picture of ‘protest icon’ Ahed Tamimi, who has been arrested twice by Israel, the second time when she posted on social media in November 2023, ‘Come on settlers, we’ll slaughter you. What Hitler did to you was a joke. We’ll drink your blood and eat your skulls.’”
For comparison’s sake, imagine if, after the Boston Marathon bombing, Boston police had found a Muslim-owned bookstore with a coloring book encouraging children to color in a picture of the “martyr” bomber. Or imagine if, after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, New York Police found a Saudi or Afghan-owned bookstore in Brooklyn or New Jersey encouraging children to color in a picture of Osama Bin Laden or the “martyrs” who perpetrated the attack on the World Trade Center. Or imagine if, heaven forbid, the bookstore owner was a Trump-supporting conservative Christian or Jew selling coloring books glorifying as heroic martyrs perpetrators of violent attacks on news organizations, such as the one on the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland.
Reasonable people could debate whether arresting the bookstore owner would be the right move, but surely at least some journalistic curiosity about why a bookstore owner would be promoting violent extremism would be warranted, alongside any alarm about “tightened restrictions on free speech.”
The Times article online has two corrections now appended:
Corrections were made on Feb. 10, 2025
An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to the relationship of the two men who were arrested at the Educational Bookshops. They are relatives, but not brothers.
An earlier version of a photo caption misstated which man was which, based on incorrect information from the news agency. Mahmood is seated in court at left and Ahmed is on the right.
It’s easy enough for the Times to correct those details.
On the more basic issue of whether the underlying story fits a narrative of “restrictions on free speech” or one of “Jerusalem Arabs glorifying terrorists,” Times readers may, alas, have to wait somewhat longer for a correction.
Ira Stoll was managing editor of The Forward and North American editor of The Jerusalem Post. His media critique, a regular Algemeiner feature, can be found here.
The post What the New York Times Left Out of Its Jerusalem Bookstore Story first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.