Virginia library moves pro-Palestinian picture book to different part of kids’ section following complaints

A Falls Church, Va., public library moved a pro-Palestinian alphabet book to a different location in its kids’ section this week following a review of the book by library staff.

After the Mary Riley Styles Public Library received thousands of letters complaining about the alleged antisemitic content of “P is for Palestine: A Palestine Alphabet Book,” staff reviewed its content and moved it from the picture book section to children’s nonfiction, local outlet ARLNow.com reported on Wednesday.

Library director Megan Dotzler told the Library Board of Trustees last week that children’s nonfiction is a better place for the book due to “complex topics that will require adult explanations for some children.”

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The 2018 book, written by Golbarg Bashi and illustrated by Golrokh Nafisi, is described on Amazon.com as the “World’s first-ever English-language ABC story book about Palestine” that is “told in simple rhythmic rhyme with stunning illustrations to act as an educational, colorful, empowering reference for children, showcasing the geography, the beauty and strength of Palestinian culture.”

The book’s presence at the Northern Virginia library drew a complaint from a local resident earlier this year regarding its passage on “Intifada.” It read, “Intifada is Arabic for rising up/For what is right, if you’re a kid or a grownup.”

Others view intifada as a direct call to violence against Israel. Liyam Chitayat, a Jewish MIT student who spoke out against pro-Palestinian protests on campus in 2023, said the word means “the name of acts of bombing and killing civilians in Israel in the Israel-Palestine conflict. It’s the name of taking civilian lives in terrorist attacks in Israel.”

During a 2023 House committee hearing on the rise of antisemitism on college campuses, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said, “the use of the term intifada in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict is indeed a call for violent armed resistance against the state of Israel, including violence against civilians and the genocide of Jews.”

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Dotzler brought up the complaint against the kids’ book during a Feb. 5 Board of Trustees meeting, telling members, “One of the letters is for a term that is problematic.”

Per its policy, the library launched a review of the material in response to the complaint to find out if it should be removed from shelves or moved. 

The initial complaint inspired 4,500 emailed complaints to the city, Dotzler revealed in a board meeting last week. She said that most of the emails accused the book of promoting antisemitism and called for its removal, though many of them were sent from people outside of the Falls Church area. Dotzler did mention that 200 of the emails were written in the book’s defense.

The director also announced the library staff’s decision to move the book to the different kids’ section, stating that they determined the book doesn’t violate library standards enough to be removed entirely. Dotzler quoted library policy stating that it “does not endorse any particular views expressed in the materials it selects.”

Dotzler did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.