A Wisconsin woman has found herself an unwitting participant in the global battle between Israel and its haters.
It all began innocently enough, when Madison mother Shira Goldman ordered a copy of “Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth,” according to the New York Post.
After Amazon delivered the book, Goldman found it had been defaced with barcode-bearing stickers that read “Free Palastine.”
“It was very disturbing and I felt violated,” Goldman told the Post.
She “feared she had been targeted for her faith,” the Post reported.
Goldman mentioned the incident to Facebook groups to which she belongs, getting action from a member of one of them who works for Amazon.
The Amazon employee investigated, leading to the dismissal of the culprit, and also ensured Goldman got a replacement book, according to the Post.
This became such a priority that the last copy in a warehouse located hours from Goldman’s home was delivered by an Amazon worker.
“A community came together to help each other out,” Goldman said.
Author Noa Tishby raged at the incident in a post on X.
I was sent this picture of my book that someone bought from Amazon. The book was totally defaced. Free Palestine stickers were put all over the book. This is unacceptable. I’m in contact with @amazonbooks and they’re making sure this doesn’t happen again. Comment below if… pic.twitter.com/i1VszNuJxH
— (((noa tishby))) (@noatishby) November 8, 2023
“I was sent this picture of my book that someone bought from Amazon. The book was totally defaced. Free Palestine stickers were put all over the book. This is unacceptable. I’m in contact with @amazonbooks and they’re making sure this doesn’t happen again. Comment below if something similar happened to you,” she wrote.
A representative for Amazon said, “We take this very seriously and apologize to the impacted customer and author.”
“We immediately launched an investigation into the defaced book, identified the person responsible, and that person no longer works at Amazon,” the representative said.
Navigating the intense hatred for Israel that sprang from its response to the slaughter of more than 1,400 people by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas last month has been a challenge for companies.
For example, Amazon has been criticized for selling merchandise with the slogan “from the river to the sea,” Newsweek reported.
Although the slogan has been used in recent weeks to mean the elimination of the state of Israel, Amazon said that items with that slogan “do not contravene our policies” that ban products that “promote, incite, or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance.”
According to Newsweek, some product reviewers took issue with Amazon’s stance.
“The slogan tries to justify the genocide of Israelis instead of trying to promote peaceful coexistence,” an Amazon user using the name Barry Gordon wrote, according to Newsweek.
Do you believe she was targeted for her faith?
Yes: 0% (0 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
“The world has seen how Hamas was trying to implement ‘From the River to the Sea’ in practice, This phrase undermines the prospects of a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It inflicts psychological pain on Israelis and Jews everywhere in the world, who bear the inherited trauma of previous eliminationist movements,” a review writer using the name Leon wrote, according to Newsweek.
However, from within Amazon, the company is being attacked by a group of Arab employees for not going far enough against Israel, according to The Washington Post.
Two days after Hamas slaughtered its way through southern Israel, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy emailed company workers in Israel.
“I’m thinking of you all at this incredibly hard time and understand that your immediate focus needs to be, first and foremost, on ensuring your safety and that of your loved ones,” he wrote.
The Post said no similar message went to Palestinian employees in the United States, the Post reported.
“Amazon does employ Arab employees, and our lives are just as equal. They have a lot of employees this is affecting on the other side. We’re not all terrorists, we’re just humans who have families in those situations,” said an Arab employee of Amazon, whose name was withheld by the Post.
