On Friday, April 19, B’nai Brith Canada—a zionist organization and self-stated “staunch defender of the State of Israel”—raised criticisms about a display hosted at the Main Street Library branch, which featured authors from both Palestine and Israel, and claimed on X (Twitter) that the TPL removed the poem as a result of their concerns. The poem, along with a banner of names, have indeed been removed. B’nai Brith Canada is proudly claiming to have influenced library policy and to have caused the removal of Refaat Alareer’s poem. This violates the library’s own commitments to intellectual freedom.

Many community members sent emails and called the branch manager following B’nai Brith’s statement, concerned about what seemed to be censorship of Palestinian voices by TPL. In response, we were told that the removal of the display was unrelated to B’nai Brith’s claims, and instead was an enforcement of library guidelines stating that displays should only include items belonging to the branch’s collection.

While we are relieved to hear that the choice to remove the poem was unrelated to the complaints, we are unsatisfied with the TPL’s explanation, especially as B’nai Brith’s statement remains public and uncontested by the TPL.

This campaign is intended to ask the TPL to publicly clarify concerns of the censorship of Palestinian voices at the behest of B’nai Brith Canada, assure the TPL community that the TPL stands by its library values of intellectual freedom and creating a safe space for all stories and ideas, and to return Dr. Alareer’s poem to the display—a poem many community members appreciated as its writer was murdered only months ago by Israeli forces. The demands included within the letter are as follows:

That the TPL will:

• Issue a public statement clarifying that the removal of the poem “If I Must Die” by Dr. Refaat Alareer was due to library display guidelines and not due to B’nai Brith’s complaints

• Uphold their commitments to intellectual freedom and ⁠⁠ensure that Palestinian voices do not face further erasure at the TPL

• ⁠Reinstate the poem “If I Must Die” at the Main Street branch library display as a show of good faith to community members, who were initially very appreciative of the librarian’s choice to include Dr. Alareer’s poem

• ⁠Ensure that the librarian who chose the poem for the display is protected from further harassment or professional repercussions

To sign on to this letter, enter your name and contact info as prompted, add your own subject line for the email and feel free to personalize the draft letter, and upon pressing send the letter will be emailed to several TPL directors, board members, and management.