Sydney: A Sydney library has withdrawn a book critical of US media coverage of Israel's war on Gaza from its shelves for 'review' following multiple complaints, including one from a survivor of the 2025 Bondi Beach attack, local media reported Tuesday.

According to Anadolu Agency, How to Sell a Genocide: The Media's Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza, by American writer Adam Johnson, was removed from Waverley Library, The Sydney Morning Herald reported, citing Waverley Council. The library serves Bondi and surrounding suburbs in Sydney's east, home to one of Australia's largest Jewish communities and close to the site of the December 2025 terrorist attack.

A council spokesperson stated, "The book has been removed from library shelves for review, and council will further consider processes to ensure closer oversight of book selection." The council acknowledged receiving multiple complaints about the book, which remains listed in the library's catalogue and is still available to reserve.

However, Waverley Council did not disclose the number of complaints received, the criteria used for book removal, the timeline for the review's completion, or whether its findings would be made public. Published in April by British publisher Pluto Press, the book argues that Israel's war on Gaza could not have continued without the 'active, sustained complicity' of the US media. It also claims major news outlets 'systematically sanitised Israel's war crimes, hid the US's central role, and dehumanized the Palestinian people'.

Johnson commented that the complaints largely focused on the use of the word 'genocide' in the title. He emphasized, "But 'genocide' is not my word, or my finding. The fact of genocide in Gaza is the overwhelming consensus of the human rights world, and it is a wholly mainstream opinion among those tasked with studying and determining such matters." Johnson further questioned whether Sydney officials plan on removing pro-Israel books from their libraries due to potential community upset.