An Israeli bookstore chain announced on Sunday that it would stop selling “The National Left,” a political manifesto by two Israeli authors who compare settlers living on occupied Palestinian land to “brainwashing, hypnotized zombies” transforming Israel into “an apartheid state.”
The Israeli Web site Ynet News reported that the chain, Tzomet Sfarim, had said in a statement: “Because we received many complaints that the book hurts the feelings of some of our customers, we decided to stop selling it.” Ynet added that “right-wing elements have been pressuring the chain’s management in recent days to stop distributing the book.”
According to the book’s authors, Shmuel Hasfari and Eldad Yaniv, Israelis need to start a political movement to oppose the demands of the settlers and bring about the immediate creation of a Palestinian state.
As the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported, the tract was being sold for 1 Israeli Shekel (about 25 cents) “along with an Israeli flag to mark the upcoming Independence Day celebrations.”
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