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Author Won’t Back Down After Receiving Hate for Publishing Children’s Book About Jewish Heritage Amid Gaza War
The cover of “Under the Rockets’ Glow: Shira’s Journey to Courage.” Photo: Screenshot
A first-time children’s book author who has been targeted with thousands of hate messages and negative comments and reviews online for publishing a book that highlights the Jewish people’s heritage amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war said he’s not letting the backlash have an effect on him.
“There’s Israeli soldiers who are putting their lives on the line to protect the land of Israel. If I take a little bit of heat online, it’s the least I can do if this is actually bringing value to people,” Roman Sandler, 34, told The Algemeiner on Wednesday. “I see the hate as kind of a corroboration that I’m on the right track because if you’re not pissing anyone off you’re not doing the right sort of thing. You’re not doing something important.”
The father of three self-published a children’s book in January titled Under the Rockets’ Glow: Shira’s Journey to Courage. It’s about a young girl named Shira and her father, who teaches her about her Jewish heritage and history, from Abraham to modern-day Israel, to help her find courage one night as rockets rain down outside her bedroom window. The story concludes with Shira falling asleep, feeling safe while dreaming about a world full of peace.
A portion of all proceeds from the book will be donated to the victims of the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel, during which the terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people and took hundreds of others as hostages back to the Gaza Strip. The book is also dedicated to victims of the massacre and soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces who are “currently risking their lives to defend Israel and subdue evil in our midst.”
Sandler, who lives in California with his family, told The Algemeiner that he was inspired to write the children’s book after having a hard time explaining the gravity of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war to his five-year-old daughter, and not being able to find any decent resources to help her understand the situation. The author, whose wife has Israeli roots, also wanted to help children understand “the first principles of who we are as a [Jewish] people, why we’re in Israel, our connection to the land, and why it’s worth fighting for,” he explained.
“I didn’t think I did anything that controversial,” Sandler added. “But I think that even the sole point that the Jews have a stake to the land of Israel is unfortunately a controversial point.”
In February, the children’s book garnered the attention of Jewish actress and former Jeopardy! host Mayim Bialik, who praised it in an Instagram post. After the Big Bang Theory star posted about the book on social media, sales for Under the Rockets’ Glow went up tremendously, but Sandler and the book also began receiving hate messages from anti-Israel activists. The book was additionally review bombed on Amazon and Google, which dragged down its ratings, and Sandler was sent thousands of threatening messages on social media.
“I think just the fact that Mayim [Bialik] posted it as comforting to Israelis in present times just automatically to the pro-Palestinian movement makes it a bad thing because [to them], it can’t be comforting to Israelis and say the Jewish narrative without somehow infringing the Palestinian narrative,” Sandler told The Algemeiner. “I think that’s how they see it, unfortunately.”
Across TikTok, Facebook, X/Twitter, and other platforms, Sandler was called “genocidal zionist scum”; compared to Nazis; and falsely accused of promoting genocide for writing a “propaganda children’s book to indoctrinate israeli [sic] children with hateful lies, while tens of thousands of Palestinians die at the hands of this brutal illegal occupation.” His book was described as “Zionist trash” aimed at “radicalizing Jewish kids” and “glorifying ethnic cleansing.” It was also labeled as “Zionist propaganda designed to brainwash you and your little ones into supporting genocide.”
Photo: Screenshot
“Lying to kids about Israel’s barbarity is a Zionist tradition,” wrote one X user. Others encouraged pro-Palestinian individuals to leave negative reviews online for the book. However, most of the negative reviews left on the book’s Amazon page are from unverified purchases, Sandler noted, meaning they were written most likely by online users who have not even purchased and read Under the Rockets’ Glow.
Despite all the negativity that Sandler’s book has faced, many parents online have thanked him for writing a book that has helped their own children.
One Amazon reviewer, a parent from Israel, said the book has helped “comfort my children with their trauma” and “give them strength and hope” when Israel experiences rocket attacks.
“This book is beautiful and heartwarming, speaks about how we need to be brave and courageous, just like all of our Jewish ancestors as they faced similar hardships, and reminding them of our beautiful history of survival,” added the Amazon reviewer and verified purchaser. “My kids love reading it now eveynight [sic], and I often hold back tears reading it [to] them, trying to smile and be positive for them.”
“Oct. 7th is a dark day that is hard to explain to our kids,” said another reviewer and verified purchaser on Amazon. “But I think [Under the Rockets’ Glow] can give strength to the young Jewish children (and their parents!) in the US who have seen such a rise of antisemitism here that it often feels dangerous and scary. Thank you for helping provide that strength for our kids and helping them understand the Jewish people’s [connection] to the land of Israel.”
Under the Rockets’ Glow has also been praised as educational and helpful in having kids understand the Israel-Hamas war.
Photo: Screenshot
Sandler has no immediate plans to write another children’s book but is not ruling it out, despite the negativity he’s faced with his first publication. Reflecting on all the positivity surrounding Under the Rockets’ Glow, he said, “I think a lot of people are very glad this book exists, just because there is so much hate out there. [The book is] something that can say their story and provide context to their children in such hard times.”
Under the Rockets’ Glow: Shira’s Journey to Courage is available to purchase on Amazon as well as some independent Jewish bookstores in New York and Toronto, Canada.
The post Author Won’t Back Down After Receiving Hate for Publishing Children’s Book About Jewish Heritage Amid Gaza War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s Sharaa Says Talks With Israel Could Yield Results ‘In Coming Days’
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks at the opening ceremony of the 62nd Damascus International Fair, the first edition held since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, in Damascus, Syria, Aug. 27, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Wednesday that ongoing negotiations with Israel to reach a security pact could lead to results “in the coming days.”
He told reporters in Damascus the security pact was a “necessity” and that it would need to respect Syria’s airspace and territorial unity and be monitored by the United Nations.
Syria and Israel are in talks to reach an agreement that Damascus hopes will secure a halt to Israeli airstrikes and the withdrawal of Israeli troops who have pushed into southern Syria.
Reuters reported this week that Washington was pressuring Syria to reach a deal before world leaders gather next week for the UN General Assembly in New York.
But Sharaa, in a briefing with journalists including Reuters ahead of his expected trip to New York to attend the meeting, denied the US was putting any pressure on Syria and said instead that it was playing a mediating role.
He said Israel had carried out more than 1,000 strikes on Syria and conducted more than 400 ground incursions since Dec. 8, when the rebel offensive he led toppled former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
Sharaa said Israel’s actions were contradicting the stated American policy of a stable and unified Syria, which he said was “very dangerous.”
He said Damascus was seeking a deal similar to a 1974 disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria that created a demilitarized zone between the two countries.
He said Syria sought the withdrawal of Israeli troops but that Israel wanted to remain at strategic locations it seized after Dec. 8, including Mount Hermon. Israeli ministers have publicly said Israel intends to keep control of the sites.
He said if the security pact succeeds, other agreements could be reached. He did not provide details, but said a peace agreement or normalization deal like the US-mediated Abraham Accords, under which several Muslim-majority countries agreed to normalize diplomatic ties with Israel, was not currently on the table.
He also said it was too early to discuss the fate of the Golan Heights because it was “a big deal.”
Reuters reported this week that Israel had ruled out handing back the zone, which Donald Trump unilaterally recognized as Israeli during his first term as US president.
“It’s a difficult case – you have negotiations between a Damascene and a Jew,” Sharaa told reporters, smiling.
SECURITY PACT DERAILED IN JULY
Sharaa also said Syria and Israel had been just “four to five days” away from reaching the basis of a security pact in July, but that developments in the southern province of Sweida had derailed those discussions.
Syrian troops were deployed to Sweida in July to quell fighting between Druze armed factions and Bedouin fighters. But the violence worsened, with Syrian forces accused of execution-style killings and Israel striking southern Syria, the defense ministry in Damascus and near the presidential palace.
Sharaa on Wednesday described the strikes near the presidential palace as “not a message, but a declaration of war,” and said Syria had still refrained from responding militarily to preserve the negotiations.
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Anti-Israel Activists Gear Up to ‘Flood’ UN General Assembly
US Capitol Police and NYPD officers clash with anti-Israel demonstrators, on the day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC, July 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Anti-Israel groups are planning a wave of raucous protests in New York City during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) over the next several days, prompting concerns that the demonstrations could descend into antisemitic rhetoric and intimidation.
A coalition of anti-Israel activists is organizing the protests in and around UN headquarters to coincide with speeches from Middle Eastern leaders and appearances by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The demonstrations are expected to draw large crowds and feature prominent pro-Palestinian voices, some of whom have been criticized for trafficking in antisemitic tropes, in addition to calling for the destruction of Israe.
Organizers of the demonstrations have promoted the coordinated events on social media as an opportunity to pressure world leaders to hold Israel accountable for its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, with some messaging framed in sharply hostile terms.
On Sunday, for example, activists shouted at Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon.
“Zionism is terrorism. All you guys are terrorists committing ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza and Palestine. Shame on you, Zionist animals,” they shouted.
BREAKING: PRO-PALESTINE PROTESTORS CONFRONT “ISRAELI” AMBASSADOR DANNY DANON AT THE UNITED NATIONS
1/5 pic.twitter.com/4G1VYEMGzV
— Within Our Lifetime (@WOLPalestine) September 14, 2025
The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), warned on its website that the scale and tone of the planned demonstrations risk crossing the line from political protest into hate speech, arguing that anti-Israel activists are attempting to hijack the UN gathering to spread antisemitism and delegitimize the Jewish state’s right to exist.
Outside the UN last week, masked protesters belonging to the activist group INDECLINE kicked a realistic replica of Netanyahu’s decapitated head as though it were a soccer ball.
US activist group plays soccer with Bibi’s mock decapitated HEAD right outside NYC UN HQ
Peep shot at 00:40
Footage posted by INDECLINE collective just as UN General Assembly about to kick off
‘Following the game, ball was donated to Palestinian Genocide Museum’ pic.twitter.com/TQ84sgZhKr
— RT (@RT_com) September 9, 2025
Within Our Lifetime (WOL), a radical anti-Israel activist group, has vowed to “flood” the UNGA on behalf of the pro-Palestine movement.
WOL, one of the most prolific anti-Israel activist groups, came under immense fire after it organized a protest against an exhibition to honor the victims of the Oct. 7 massacre at the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel. During the event, the group chanted “resistance is justified when people are occupied!” and “Israel, go to hell!”
“We will be there to confront them with the truth: Their silence and inaction enable genocide. The world cannot continue as if Gaza does not exist,” WOL said of its planned demonstrations in New York. “This is the time to make our voices impossible to ignore. Come to New York by any means necessary, to stand, to march, to demand the UN act and end the siege.”
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), two other anti-Israel organizations that have helped organize widespread demonstrations against the Jewish state during the war in Gaza, also announced they are planning a march from Times Square to the UN headquarters on Friday.
“The time is now for each and every UN member state to uphold their duty under international law: sanction Israel and end the genocide,” the groups said in a statement.
JVP, an organization that purports to fight for “Palestinian liberation,” has positioned itself as a staunch adversary of the Jewish state. The group argued in a 2021 booklet that Jews should not write Hebrew liturgy because hearing the language would be “deeply traumatizing” to Palestinians. JVP has repeatedly defended the Oct. 7 massacre of roughly 1,200 people in southern Israel by Hamas as a justified “resistance.” Chapters of the organization have urged other self-described “progressives” to throw their support behind Hamas and other terrorist groups against Israel
Similarly, PYM, another radical anti-Israel group, has repeatedly defended terrorism and violence against the Jewish state. PYM has organized many anti-Israel protests in the two years following the Oct. 7 attacks in the Jewish state. Recently, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) called for a federal investigation into the organization after Aisha Nizar, one of the group’s leaders, urged supporters to sabotage the US supply chain for the F-35 fighter jet, one of the most advanced US military assets and a critical component of Israel’s defense.
The UN General Assembly has historically been a flashpoint for heated debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Previous gatherings have seen dueling demonstrations outside the Manhattan venue, with pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups both seeking to influence the international spotlight.
While warning about the demonstrations, CAM noted it recently launched a new mobile app, Report It, that allows users worldwide to quickly and securely report antisemitic incidents in real time.
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Nina Davidson Presses Universities to Back Words With Action as Jewish Students Return to Campus Amid Antisemitism Crisis
Nina Davidson on The Algemeiner’s ‘J100’ podcast. Photo: Screenshot
Philanthropist Nina Davidson, who served on the board of Barnard College, has called on universities to pair tough rhetoric on combatting antisemitism with enforcement as Jewish students returned to campuses for the new academic year.
“Years ago, The Algemeiner had published a list ranking the most antisemitic colleges in the country. And number one was Columbia,” Davidson recalled on a recent episode of The Algemeiner‘s “J100” podcast. “As a board member and as someone who was representing the institution, it really upset me … At the board meeting, I brought it up and I said, ‘What are we going to do about this?’”
Host David Cohen, chief executive officer of The Algemeiner, explained he had revisited Davidson’s remarks while she was being honored for her work at The Algemeiner‘s 8th annual J100 gala, held in October 2021, noting their continued relevance.
“It could have been the same speech in 2025,” he said, underscoring how longstanding concerns about campus antisemitism, while having intensified in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, are not new.
Davidson argued that universities already possess the tools to protect students – codes of conduct, time-place-manner rules, and consequences for threats or targeted harassment – but too often fail to apply them evenly. “Statements are not enough,” she said, arguing that institutions need to enforce their rules and set a precedent that there will be consequences for individuals who refuse to follow them.
She also said that stakeholders – alumni, parents, and donors – are reassessing their relationships with schools that, in their view, have not safeguarded Jewish students. While supportive of open debate, Davidson distinguished between protest and intimidation, calling for leadership that protects expression while ensuring campus safety.
The episode surveyed specific pressure points that administrators will face this fall: repeat anti-Israel encampments, disruptions of Jewish programming, and the challenge of distinguishing political speech from conduct that violates university rules. “Unless schools draw those lines now,” Davidson warned, “they’ll be scrambling once the next crisis hits.”
Cohen closed by framing the discussion as a test of institutional credibility, asking whether universities will “turn policy into protection” in real time. Davidson agreed, pointing to students who “need to know the rules aren’t just on paper.”
The full conversation is available on The Algemeiner’s “J100” podcast.