Don't Say Palestine

“Amidst some of the worst journalistic failures of this century, Assal Rad has consistently done vital work to point out the myriad ways institutional hypocrisy, cowardice, and willful obliviousness work hand-in-hand with state violence to justify and normalize any manner of atrocity. Her intellectual rigor and moral clarity—not only on the journalistic malpractice that so often marks Western media coverage of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, but on how this malpractice eventually seeps into all coverage—are unwavering. At a time when it would have been so much more convenient to stay silent, I and so many others are grateful for her willingness to speak.” —Omar El Akkad, National Book Award–winning author of One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

“Eighty years ago, George Orwell wrote that ‘In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.’ Assal Rad shows, in painful detail, that in the case of Israel-Palestine, this remains true.” —Peter Beinart, author of Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza

“Throughout the course of the Gaza Genocide, historian Assal Rad has been a beacon of clarity in a media landscape clouded by lies. In this important new work of media criticism, Rad dissects the biases, distortions, and falsehoods by which press institutions conceal the atrocities of empire—as well as delivering a powerful call for accountability, justice, and truth.” —Molly Crabapple, author of Here Where We Live Is Our Country

“Assal Rad brilliantly exposes how, for the past years, reality itself had been distorted to fit a political ecosystem. Western media does not simply omit or distort reality, but actively launders it. Language reframes and ultimately erases both violence and responsibility. ‘Self-defense’ replaces the naming of genocide. These linguistic choices reveal intentionality in complicity: not neutral but political, shaping whose lives are grievable and whose deaths are rendered acceptable. In Don’t Say Palestine, Rad demonstrates how media narratives create permissive conditions for genocide through strategic omission, selective visibility, euphemism, and the erasing of Palestinian voices. When those same institutions dictate what can and cannot be said, this is not press freedom but censorship. And when they uncritically repeat the claims of a state responsible for unprecedented violence, in ways that obscure or diminish its gravity, this is not reporting—it is complicity.” —Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and author of When the World Sleeps

“Remember ‘reading comprehension’ in high school? And then, in college, if you were pretentious, ‘critical theory’ or ‘media studies’? It was all about learning how to read—harder than it sounds. It was a lesson that was valuable then and is even more valuable now. Nobody has been as relentless a promotor of reading comprehension as Assal Rad. By showing us the gulf between what is said and what is meant—and what actually should be said—she has offered a vital lesson in reading comprehension—showing us how words can kill actual people in this actual world.” —Benjamin Moser, author of Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History

“If you’ve ever wondered how the media manipulated perception through subtle use of language, this is the book for you to read. Assal Rad in her superb book shows how no other institution is as instrumental in shaping perception like the media, which is not a record of truth-telling but a carefully curated narrative and elaborate system of erasure, euphemism, and deference to power.” —Raja Shehadeh, National Book Award finalist and author of We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I

“A poignant reminder of the power of words to normalise, or legitimise, genocide.” —Yanis Varoufakis, author of Technofeudalism

“When so many chose indifference and obfuscation, Assal insists on clarity, honesty, and integrity. She documents how complicity for a livestreamed genocide was perpetrated. It is a chronicle of depravity and the depraved, and of the operation of cynicism on a grand dehumanizing scale.” —Ussama Makdisi, author of Anti-Palestinianism

“Assal Rad offers a profound meditation on the role of the media in a democratic society, which ideally serves as a check against the interests of the powerful and lifts up the voices of those on the receiving end of brutal governmental policies. Yet, when it comes to mainstream media coverage of Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, Rad expertly demonstrates how the media not only failed to uphold the ethical standards of its profession but, even worse, was and remains actively complicit in amplifying and reifying US and Israeli governmental talking points denying, excusing, and justifying Israel’s crimes against humanity. This book is a shocking exposé illuminating the ways in which the media molds public opinion to help perpetuate and build consent for atrocities. A must read.” —Dr. Josh Ruebner, professor at Georgetown University and author of The United States and the Palestinian Nakba

“This is a searing indictment and a fierce demand for press accountability.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Rad is a firebrand with receipts, and this blazing but clear-eyed work of media criticism should be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how we got to this terrible place.” —Literary Hub, “34 Books You Need to Read This Fall”