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Amazon Pulls Book by Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar Referencing Oct. 7 Attacks After UK Lawyers Intervene
Hamas leader and Oct. 7 pogrom mastermind Yahya Sinwar addressing a rally in Gaza. Photo: Reuters/braheem Abu Mustafa
Amazon is no longer selling a book by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar after being informed by a group of pro-Israel lawyers in the United Kingdom on Thursday that the sale of the book is illegal in the UK and in breach of Amazon’s own policies.
“Thanks for bringing this to our attention,” Amazon said on Friday in response to a letter it received from UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) about Sinwar’s self-published book The Thorn and the Carnation.
“We’ll investigate further to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Amazon added. “In the meantime, the item may be temporarily unavailable to buy from Amazon.co.uk, though it may still be available from merchants on the Amazon.co.uk website.” The book is also no longer available for purchase in the US.
According to UKLFI, the description of Thorn and the Carnation on Amazon said the book is a “compelling novel” that “offers a profound window into the resilience and the ethos” of Sinwar. The book also allows readers to “traverse the corridors of his mind, possibly where the seeds for the ‘Flood of Al-Aqsa’ operation initiated on October 7, 2023, were sown.” It was published in hardback on March 22, 2024, and in paperback on April 8, 2024.
Sinwar was the mastermind behind the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel that took place on Oct. 7. Hamas terrorists murdered about 1,200 people that day and took more than 250 others as hostages back to the Gaza Strip. Mounting evidence has revealed that the Palestinian terrorists systematically perpetrated sexual violence, including torture and mass rape, against the Israeli people during the Oct. 7 onslaught, which Hamas named “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.” The terrorist attack was the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
Amazon employee Sasha Trufanov is one of the hostages currently being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 attacks, according to UKLFI. Trufanov is an engineer at the Israeli microelectronics company Annapurna Labs, which Amazon owns.
“Sinwar is likely using him as a human shield and or subjecting him to torture,” UKLFI said. The group of lawyers added that Amazon “should be well aware of the book’s offensive and insulting content and the nature of Hamas and Sinwar’s crimes and views.”
UKLFI told the e-commerce giant that selling The Thorn and the Carnation is in violation of the UK’s anti-terrorism legislation. In November, Sinwar was included in the UK’s counter-terrorism regulations as a leader of Hamas, making him subject to financial sanctions. His assets are frozen, and it is illegal in the UK to make funds or economic resources accessible to him.
In addition to contacting Amazon about the book, UKLFI reported the company to the police. Many Amazon customers also left reviews on the website slamming the book before its removal, saying it “incites hatred,” should no longer be sold, and is “nothing more than a terrorist indoctrination manual.” Amazon’s selling of Sinwar’s book appears to further breach many aspects of the company’s policy regarding “offensive and controversial materials” and “content guidelines for books.”
After Amazon removed The Thorn and the Carnation from its website, UKLFI Director Caroline Turner expressed gratitude that the website “acted quickly to prevent money being illegally channeled to Hamas’ leader, who is currently holding over 130 Israelis hostage, including one of their own employees.”
Over 100 of the hostages abducted on Oct. 7 have been returned to Israel.
The Jewish state has arrested Sinwar, the Hamas terror group’s leader in Gaza, numerous times. Most recently, Israel released him, and other Palestinian prisoners, in exchange for Hamas’ release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011.
In September 2015, Sinwar was listed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) by the US Department of State.
The post Amazon Pulls Book by Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar Referencing Oct. 7 Attacks After UK Lawyers Intervene 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.