Visiting ‘Scar of David' Author Is Criticized

An author scheduled for two local appearances today — including one at a city college — has outraged some members of the city's Jewish community, who say her book misrepresents Israel's treatment of Palestinian Arabs.

Susan Abulhawa, author of "The Scar of David" (Journey Publications, 2006), is scheduled to appear first at a Kingsborough Community College literature class whose professor made the book required reading this semester. Ms. Abulhawa said she has heard that some faculty members are unhappy with her appearance, but she had not heard from any of them. A spokeswoman at Kingsborough confirmed the appearance, but insisted it is not a college-sponsored event.

Ms. Abulhawa will then hold a book signing at a Bayside Barnes & Noble. The rabbi at Temple Beth Shalom in Flushing, Bruce Goldwasser, encouraged his congregation to stop shopping there. He called the book slanderous. "It's an historical novel based on made-up stuff," he said. "The made-up stuff is that the Israelis were forcing the Arabs out of their homes."

Ms. Abulhawa, who lives in Pennsylvania, contends the complaints led the Bayside Barnes & Noble to downgrade her planned book reading to a book signing. A Barnes & Noble spokeswoman denied the store had many any change, but said the store has received an outpouring of feedback — about 15 phone calls a day, many negative, and one faxed letter from four local rabbis.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations faxed a counter-complaint, asking that Ms. Abulhawa be given a full reading.

Ms. Abulhawa said the uproar demonstrates a troubling pattern of ignoring the truth about Israel's actions. "It's 60 years of basically ethnically cleansing the native people…because they're not Jewish," she said. "That's the story that's missing."