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.
