Brentwood Bookstore Criticized for Selling Book, ‘Understanding Hamas’

About 30 pro-Israel protesters gathered outside of a Brentwood bookstore to voice their disapproval of the store selling a new book, “Understanding Hamas And Why That Matters” by Helena Cobban and Rami G. Khouri. 

The furor began on Sunday Sept. 22 when a video began to circulate on social media showing the book was for sale at Diesel, A Bookstore in the Brentwood Country Mart. The video featured a pair of shoppers expressing dismay that the book would be sold at a bookstore in a neighborhood with a sizable Jewish population. They confronted an employee about it.

Amazon and Barnes & Noble’s sales pages for the book say that the publication date is Oct. 8 — one day after the one year anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel. Diesel released a statement about “Understanding Hamas” on their Instagram page:

“I deeply regret the pain and anger the episode in our bookstore has caused … Due to the distress this book has caused many friends in the community, and to protect the young booksellers working in the store simply doing their job, we will remove this book from the shelves immediately. We believe in peace and would never promote hate, hate-speech or ideas that promote bloodshed of any kind. Please accept our sincerest apologies.”

The Journal spoke with the two shoppers who made the original video. They said that they did not read the book, nor take a photograph of its table of contents. They requested not to be named. Still, the book’s title was enough to set off a firestorm of outrage.  

The demonstration took place Monday at 1:30 p.m. The door to the store was still open, but had three security guards stationed at the entrance. A demonstrator, Ron Sinai, was seen arguing with security and chastising one of the owners for selling the book. “They’re cowards, they wouldn’t let us in, they’re shutting the doors, the employees are wearing masks, which tells you a lot about these kinds of people, they’re insane,” Sinai told The Journal. By 2:00 p.m, pro-Israel demonstrators gathered along another closed entrance to the store. An Israeli flag was affixed to the Diesel window. 

Los Angeles Police arrived at 2:13 p.m. to cheers of “fund the police” and “Am Yisrael Chai.” Eighteen minutes later, the officers issued a verbal warning that putting signs on the windows and banging on the walls on private property is grounds for trespassing and could be arrested. None were made, but the doors to the store remained closed, and the staff inside the store could no longer be seen. Several times during the 90-minute gathering, security had to tell would-be Diesel shoppers why the store was closed during regular business hours. Though the lights were now off, a bookstand facing the front window could be seen that read, “This banned books week, read a banned book.” One of the books on the stand was Art Spiegelman’s “Maus.”

Only one person, Alex Braunstein, challenged the pro-Israel crowd, He and a pro-Israel protesters, Sharlene Natan, agreed to step aside and discuss their perspectives about “Understanding Hamas” over ice cream. 

“This entire world is filled with people who don’t know anything about Israel, nothing about Judaism, so why put that book in a bookstore?” Natan asked. “An Arab author — someone who’s not even Jewish — why allow that book to sit on the stands so the whole world can read it and get biased views about what is going on? Especially as a Jewish person, [Braunstein] is endangering his own life and the other Jewish people … It’s a book about Hamas. It’s biased, it’s propaganda.”

“This entire world is filled with people who don’t know anything about Israel, nothing about Judaism, so why put that book in a bookstore?” – Sharlene Natan

“It’s not anyone’s place to police what most people can and can’t read,” Braunstein said. “It’s a very slippery slope. When you say someone can’t read one thing, then you start incorporating all other books. I support Israel. I like Israel. I’ve been to Israel. That being said, I still think it’s important to have this perspective. It’s important to read it, to understand it. If you disagree with it, it’s good to know what they think. And I don’t ever support the idea of a book being banned for whatever it contains or a bookstore being protested for selling a book.”

The two agreed to do a book club together on “Understanding Hamas.” Natan would only do it if they agree to also discuss Mosab Hassan Yousef’s “Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices.” Hassan Yousef is the son of a founding Hamas member and has disavowed them.

There were some at the demonstration who expressed that they expected more from a community bookstore.

“It’s way easier for me to go to Amazon, and a better value, but the reason that you shop local is because you feel that connection to your community,” Jasmin Hai told The Journal. “This is just a slap in the face to the Jewish community of the west side, and it’s not fair and balanced. If you want to have materials in your store that talk about the Palestinian struggle, that’s fine, but this is just on another level. This is actually hate speech and also it’s just lies.”

Leah Yebri, who came to the protest wearing an Israeli flag, has bought children’s books at Diesel for at least a decade. “They should not be allowed to sell books that are promoting a terrorist organization — Hamas is known to be a terrorist organization in the United States and many other countries,” Yebri told the Journal. “And the bookseller is defending this book, she wanted to sell this book. The bookstore has an obligation not to spread propaganda and we will not stand for it.”