Biden seen holding anti- Israel book during Black Friday shopping excursion

Question

President Biden was seen on Black Friday holding an anti-Israel book while while leaving a Nantucket bookstore, the New York Post reported.

Answer 1

This claim is correct. I was initially skeptical of this source because of both the New York Post and the Fox News website skewing right, according to the Ad Fontes Media bias chart, but the picture appears legitimate. A version of the picture appeared in Reuters and was taken by a Reuters photographer. While one can see the first name of the author is Rashid and the last name begins with Kh, the rest of the last name as well as the title are covered by Biden's hand in the picture. However, the part of the cover that is visible appears very similar to the cover of The Hundred Years' War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi. 

According to the book listing on Macmillan Publishers, the book "traces a hundred years of colonial war on the Palestinians, waged first by the Zionist movement and then Israel, but backed by Britain and the United States, the great powers of the age." The Fox News article that you linked also presents a quote from the book: "[T]he modern history of Palestine can best be understood in these terms: as a colonial war waged against the indigenous population, by a variety of parties, to force them to relinquish their homeland to another people against their will." I wasn't able to access the full version of the book, but the Fox News article sourced the quote from the Zinn Education Project, which created teaching materials around the conflict in Palestine-Israel that appear balanced in opinion. 

While it's tricky to verify the quote when there are two intermediates, I have enough trust in the Zinn Education Project as well as the book listing to conclude that the book is negative toward Israel. And since Biden was verified to carry the book, this claim is true.

Comments

You’ve made a solid case here. While it’s valid to be cautious of sources like the New York Post and Fox News, the verification of the image by Reuters and the visible part of the book title make it clear that Biden was indeed holding The Hundred Years' War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi. The book's critical stance toward Israel is well-documented, and the quote sourced through the Zinn Education Project adds credibility, even if indirectly. Overall, the claim seems accurate, and though the indirect quotation leaves a bit of room for doubt, the visual and contextual evidence strongly support the conclusion.