A powerful indictment of western journalism and its deference to power. Assal Rad spells out with devastating precision the role of the media in dehumanising Palestinians and manufacturing consent for genocide. This is an important piece of history, and it’s documented with stark clarity in this book. “Communication can become participation when it legitimises extraordinary violence,” writes Rad, and most devastatingly, it is not so much a failure of the system as it is the system working as it was always meant to work. A powerful piece of work, this is an absolute must read for all of us and for all generations to come.

An unfortunate but necessary dissection of western media's complicity in israel's current and on-going genocide of Gaza. It examines the ways in which western media outlets use of deliberate language throughout its coverage of the most well-documented genocide in history paints a grim picture of bias due to external influences that end up distorting the truth and trying to present facts through the false lens of zionist hasbara. I'd consider this required reading for anyone looking to further educate themselves on the reality of the situation in Occupied Palestine as well as anyone looking to de-program themselves from the ever-present network of hasbara in the western world that becomes impossible to ignore once you know what you're looking for.

A really fantastic, well written, well researched book that puts words and specific evidence behind the phenomena that many gen-z and gen-alpha (and others as well) have started to notice about western media. This should be required reading for all.

Don’t Say Palestine by Assal Rad is a fantastic critical look at how words spoken by the media matter on one’s perception of reality. The ability to show in an accessible way the differences between reporting of events that happen to people in Israel versus events that happen to people in Gaza is jaw dropping. I was reading this book and getting more upset at the failure of what I thought was a free and fair reporting by the few mainstream news stations I thought I could trust. Seeing the stark differences in not only what is reported but also how it is reported literally made me so angry. I feel manipulated!

This is such an important book for people to read and see how media (and by that I mean those who own the media) use words and language to form our opinion about what is or is not a genocide. It’s hard to believe that even with all the evidence proven through people on the ground using their own cameras, the high number of casualties not only civilians but also journalists on the ground in Gaza, and testimonies from people like those who work at World Central Kitchen of the atrocities taken place by the Israeli government, people still don’t know what to believe. Or maybe it is easier to say, I don’t know what to believe than it is to actually take a stand one way or the other.

I know this book made me feel uncomfortable but it was a necessary uncomfortable. Opinions can change and through books like this, eyes are opening. Even among Jewish people like myself.

Thank you, Assal Rad, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for providing this e-ARC via NetGalley for review.