Activists launch campaign against Arab bookshop for selling Israeli author's books

Arab social media activists launched an aggressive campaign against the famous bookstore on Twitter under the hashtag "Okeikan's normalization," for allegedly selling books by David Grossman.

By MAAYAN GROISMAN
Updated: MAY 19, 2016 15:12
Novelist David Grossman (photo credit: REUTERS)
Novelist David Grossman
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Obeikan Publishing, a well-known bookstore which owns several branches in the Arab world, is the target of a new anti-Israel social media campaign that calls to boycott books written by Israeli authors.
On Tuesday, Arab social media activists launched an aggressive campaign against the famous bookstore on Twitter under the hashtag "Obeikan's normalization," for allegedly selling books by the prominent Israeli author, David Grossman.
One of the anti-Israel activists, a user named Abdullah al-Bishri, posted an image showing a shelf crowded with Grossman's books in one of Obeikan's bookstores in Saudi Arabia, claiming that by doing so, the bookstore ridicules its book shelves.
A user named Faris al-Jarbuh, who presented himself as a writer, wrote a series of comments about the alleged affection of Obeikanto Israel.
"Grossman's book (sold at the bookstore) is not political, and it is necessary that we know what the enemy writes about," he said.
"However, even if the book is not political, its mere existence in our bookstores amounts to support for the entity's hypocrites, Jarbuh added.
"Regarding the necessity to know what the enemy writes about, we can comprehend what its image looks like by watching the way it treats our occupied people – besieging and expelling them," he continued.
"In addition, the author of the book displayed at the Obeikan bookstore is the father of a Zionist soldier who killed our people and was killed in the 2006 war," Jarbuh concluded his remarks.
A user named Noura wrote: "Those who say: 'we want to gain knowledge no matter what its source is, and regardless of religion', can't you read something else besides novels by an Israeli writer?"
In contrast, another activist who participated in the campaign stated: "The Koran does not prohibit us from learning what our enemy thinks about."