May 1, 2025
A CALL FROM CONCERNED BOOKSTORES, PUBLISHERS,
AUTHORS AND OTHERS IN THE LITERARY WORLD
Defend and Stand With Mosab Abu Toha, Beloved Palestinian Poet and Writer.
Palestinian Voices Must Not Be Silenced, Activists Must Not Be Punished,
and We,
Who are Putting Our Names to This Statement,
Say Genocide Must STOP.
In the Name of Humanity, We Refuse
to Accept a Fascist America.
To submit your name as a signatory to this letter, go HERE.
Mosab Abu Toha has been called “the essential poet embodying the humanity of Gaza.” When Mosab attempted to leave Gaza with his family in November 2023,
he was detained by the Israeli military as a potential enemy combatant and released because he did not in fact pose such a threat.
Mosab writes and teaches in the U.S. But he is now facing new and dangerous threats.
The right-wing Zionist organization Betar, which has targeted Palestinian writers and pro-Palestine activists for harassment and vigilante attacks, has falsely and viciously branded Mosab a “terrorist.” Last week, they issued this statement for the second time: “Mosab Abu Toha will be arrested and (we hope) deported soon...Yes, we believe his day is coming very soon. Mosab Abu Toha has no place in America.” Mosab had been touring the country with his new and widely acclaimed collection of poems, Forest of Noise. But he has been forced to cancel the tour at the end of March because of these threats.
These threats against Mosab must be taken very seriously. Not least against the backdrop of the Trump regime's abductions of Mahmoud Khalil and other activists...the cruel and unjust deportation of immigrants to what amount to concentration camps...and now Trump's announcement that “home-grown” US citizens should be deported as well!
THIS IS A TIME FOR SOLIDARITY AND FOR COURAGE.
1. As bookstores, publishers, people in the literary world: we declare our determination to defend Mosab Abu Toha and to stand with writers in the cross-hairs of this fascist assault on voices telling the truth of the subjugation of the Palestinian people.
2. We call on bookstores and other institutions to hold bold readings of Mosab Abu Toha's work with diverse readers, in the coming days and weeks, and to raise awareness of this critical and urgent situation.
The birds wake up and look for food.
They chirp on the blossoming trees, laden with fruit,
with peaches, apples, apricots, and oranges.
And we, we are still looking for Palestine.
–Mosab Abu Toha
Initiating Signatories:
-Adobe Books and Arts Cooperative, San Francisco, CA
-Alex Akin, Bolerium Books, San Francisco, CA
-Emily Autenrieth, owner, A Seat At the Table Books, Elk Grove, CA
-Camden Avery, The Booksmith, San Francisco CA
-Bird & Beckett Books & Records, San Francisco, CA
-Bluestockings Cooperative Bookstore, New York City
-Dr. Joel Eis and Toni Labori, The Rebound Bookstore, San Rafael, CA
-David Nurick, Chapter One Book Store, Hamilton, MT
-Hannah Oliver Depp, owner, Loyalty Books, Washington DC and Silver Spring, MD
-Chris Doeblin, owner, Book Culture, New York City, Long Island City and Pittsford, NY
-Arthur Fournier, fine & rare, Brooklyn, NY
-Laura Joakimson, Omnidawn Publishing
-Rusty Morrison, Omnidawn Publishing
-Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore and Gallery, San Francisco, CA
-Carlos & Ashley Mireles-Guerrero, owners, Judging by the Cover: A Bookstore in Fresno (CA)
-Hannah Moushabeck, Interlink Publisher
-Dan Sheehan, novelist; editor at LitHub.com
-Linda Sherman-Nurick, Cellar Door Bookstore, Riverside, CA
-Walden Pond Books, Oakland, CA
-Raymond Lotta, spokesperson, Revolution Books, New York City
-Barry Thornton, Revolution Books, Berkeley, CA
Signatories:
-Melissa L. Amstutz, owner, Bishop & Wilde, Portland, OR
-Patrick, Antenucci, Nightlight Books
-Laura Bellizzi, owner/operator, Binnacle Books, Beacon, NY
-Lucy Coats, *Society of Authors, UK
-Cheryl Davila, former city council member, Berkeley, CA
-Ottavia De Luca,
Riffraff Bookstore and Bar
-Thom Eichelberger-Young, Blue Bag Press
-Larry Felson,
Coordinator, Poetry-At-The-Cobalt Gallery, Fort Bragg, CA
-Ezekiel Finkelstein, writer, Ancient Hebrews against the Atrocities of the Murderous Nation-State
-Karen Finley, author, artist, educator
-Christopher Glaco, *Page Against the Machine
-Rafael Jesús González, poet laureate emeritus, Berkeley, CA
-Ana Guimil, Odyssey Bookshop
-Rosa Hernandez, bookseller, Third Place Books
-Insight Press, editors
-Christina
Pascucci-Ciampa, All She Wrote Books
-Christine Patrick, The Winchester Book Gallery
-Anell Rallin, writer/educator, Los Angeles, CA
-Satsuki Ina, author,
Tsuru for Solidarity
-Genny Lim, San Francisco Poet Laureate
-Maya Martin, Square Books
-Siddharth Mehrotra, Sulis International
-Efia Nwangaza, Malcolm X Center for Self Determination,
Greenville, SC
-Samantha Schwarer, bookseller, Audreys Books Ltd., Edmonton, AB, Canada
-Lisa Swayze, Ithaca, NY
-Graham Overby, Next Chapter Booksellers
*Institutions/Affiliations for Informational Purposes Only
Mosab Abu Toha is a Palestinian poet, short story writer, and essayist from Gaza. His first collection of poetry, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry. His writings have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Nation. He is the founder of the Edward Said Library, Gaza's first English language library (bombed last year by the Israeli military).
His books are available from your local independent bookstore or at Bookshop.org.
To submit your name as a signatory to this letter,
go HERE.
For more information, call 212-691-3345.
Appendix
Some
resources:
1) This Call to Conscience, Call to Act from RefuseFascism.org, contains important direction and commitment at this critical moment and is currently collecting signatures.
2)
Sources documenting the threats on Mosab Abu Toha:
Betar's April 19, 2025 Tweet (X post) which reposts a March Tweet that threatened Mosab Abu Toha with imminent deportation:
https://x.com/Betar_USA/status/1913479433177976911
Betar's X account has several posts in the past few weeks calling for the arrest and deportation of Mosab and other pro-Palestinian and Palestinian students, most or all of whom are now in ICE/DHS custody. Betar feeds names they accuse of being Hamas supporters directly to the Trump administration and these people are targeted without due process. They have themselves boasted many times about doing this.
This is a March 31 article with an interview of a Betar spokesperson asserting that Mosab Abu Toha and Mohsen Mahdawi would both be deported soon. Mohsen was detained 2 weeks later:
https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/us/2025/03/31/betar-palestinian-students-visas-israel/
Mohsen's arrest occurred when he was lured on April 14 to what he was informed was an interview on his citizenship application. There is now a court battle over Mohsen's detention and potential deportation.
Article from Arkansas news outlet about cancellation of Mosab's local event
and national book tour with Forest of Noise, in response to these and other
threats to himself and his family:
https://arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025/04/10/little-rock-reading-for-palestinian-writer-mosab-abu-toha-cancelled-amid-deportation-fears
While court battles have stalled some illegal deportations, the Trump administration has made quite clear their contempt for court directives and due process, violating numerous court orders including defying one order to reverse the removal of 200+ Venezuelan and other migrants to the Salvadoran CECOT torture black box, and continuing as of this writing to defy the Supreme Court order to facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia who was 'mistakenly' included among those removed to the Salvadoran prison.