Amazon is no longer selling a book by Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, after being told that it is illegal to do so by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI). On 18 April 2024 UKLFI informed Amazon that it is in breach of UK’s anti-terrorism legislation, and reported Amazon to the police. The following day Amazon pulled the book from sale.
Yahya Sinwar was the architect and leader of the largest mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. The atrocities carried out by Hamas on 7 October 2023 included rape and sexual violence against Israeli women and the abduction of hundreds of hostages. This massive terrorist attack is known by Hamas as the ‘Flood of Al-Aqsa’.
And yet the description of Yahya Sinwar’s book, “The Thorn and the Carnation” as sold on Amazon, gushingly describes it as a “compelling novel” that “offers a profound window into the resilience and the ethos” of Sinwar, where “readers traverse the corridors of his mind, possibly where the seeds for the ‘Flood of Al-Aqsa’ operation initiated on October 7, 2023, were sown”. The book was published in hardback on 22 March 2024, and in paperback on 8 April 2024.
Sinwar is a designated person under the UK’s counter terrorism regulations. He is listed as a leader of Hamas, and his assets have been frozen. It is therefore illegal to have any financial dealings with him or to make funds or economic resources available to him or for his benefit. He is Israel’s most wanted terrorist leader.
He has been arrested by Israel on a number of occasions, spending a total of 24 years in prison. He was among the Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Hamas’s freeing 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.
UKLFI has pointed out that by selling his self-published book, (for £21.04 paperback or £23.70 hardback), and presumably transmitting proceeds of sale to him or for his benefit, Amazon was likely to be committing several offences under the counter-terrorism regulations.
Many customers have already submitted complaints about this book to Amazon, in the customer reviews including:
“This book incites hatred”
“Nothing more than a terrorist indoctrination manual – should be removed from sale”
UKLFI also pointed out that one of Amazon’s employees, Sasha Trufanov, is currently being held hostage by Hamas and Sinwar is likely using him as a human shield and or subjecting him to torture. Trufanov is an engineer employed at Annapurna Labs, an Israeli microelectronics company purchased by Amazon. Amazon has failed to issue any statement about Sasha.
Amazon should be well aware of the Book’s offensive and insulting content and the nature of Hamas and Sinwar’s crimes and views. Sinwar’s Book also breaches many aspects of Amazon’s own Offensive and Controversial Materials policies and Content Guidelines for Books.
UKLFI requested that Amazon withdraw the book immediately. Caroline Turner, director of UKLFI commented: “We are very pleased that the book is no longer for sale – either in the UK or in the USA. In this case Amazon acted quickly to prevent money being illegally channelled to Hamas’s leader, who is currently holding over 130 Israelis hostage, including one of their own employees.”
Amazon had responded to UKLFI’s letter by saying “Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We’ll investigate further to make sure this doesn’t happen again. 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.”