Turmoil at Brentwood’s Country Mart: How Hamas Book Sparked Fiery Protest and Tense Fallout

It appears like enterprise as common at Brentwood’s Country Mart.

Laptops and lattes sit on each desk at Caffe Luxxe’s patio. Across the nook, a girl corrals two teenagers close to luxurious décor store Hudson Grace. “Let’s go to Goop real quick,” she declares loudly in directing them towards a pitstop at Gwyneth Paltrow’s curated retailer. The pastry counter at Farmshop has a queue 4 deep, although the lunch rush is winding down. One wouldn’t be shocked to see Country Mart regulars like Larry David or Jennifer Garner on a quiet, sunny Wednesday afternoon like this.

The quietude of the scene belies the tumult that occurred right here simply days earlier than. A couple of ft from Diesel Bookstore’s entrance, this reporter is scanning a window show when a Diesel staffer approaches from a courtyard close by. “Can I help you?” he asks. Forgive the direct strategy, he provides, however his colleagues are on edge and leery of anybody lingering or taking photographs. It’s been a tough few days, and tensions stay within the air. Threats had been nonetheless flying in by cellphone and e-mail.

As if on cue, a bubbly common breezes into the bookstore to take the temperature. “I’m not here with any complaints,” she declares with a large smile. She says she loves Diesel and jokingly provides that she has spent a lot time at the Country Mart through the years that when her husband can’t attain her, he calls the Reddi Chick counter. So naturally she was all too conscious of what went down at Diesel the earlier week, and says she is available in peace: “It’s a tough world out there.”

Employees hardly wanted the reminder. Disaster erupted at Diesel on Sept. 22 when a Jewish girl noticed a e book titled Understanding Hamas: And Why That Issues displayed on a desk. Offended by its presence, she reportedly alerted one other Jewish girl, who went into Diesel to confront workers in what escalated into an emotional tirade that she captured on video.

“This is shameful! In a Jewish neighborhood! Why Hamas matters? Hamas is a terrorist organization,” states the girl, her voice rising louder. “I lived in Israel, I have family in Israel. There was murder on October 7.” A shock assault led by Hamas claimed the lives of greater than 1,200 folks in Israel that day, the deadliest within the nation’s historical past, leading to a brutal and ongoing Israeli navy marketing campaign to root out Hamas in Gaza, which has reportedly now claimed the lives of greater than 40,000 Palestinians.

On the video, a 17-year-old worker, who identifies as Jewish, responds by saying, “I know plenty of Palestinians that have been murdered over the past year.” Undeterred, the girl continues, “Very sad. We did not ask for this war. Get this out of your bookstore! Unbelievable.” She’s then heard slamming the e book on the desk because the recording ends.

The video was posted on a number of social media platforms, resulting in an organized protest that happened the next Monday afternoon. A number of dozen protestors descended on the Country Mart, blocking Diesel Bookstore’s two entrances round 1:30 p.m., in line with movies shared on X (previously Twitter). Protestors chanted and hung an Israeli flag over Diesel’s entrance window beneath a number of indicators, certainly one of which learn, “Do you also sell Mein Kampf?” in reference to Adolf Hitler’s 1925 autobiographical manifesto. Because the scenario escalated, Diesel’s workers determined to lock the bookstore’s doorways and shut off the lights. A protester could be heard a number of occasions shouting, “they/them,” as a slur towards the teenage bookstore worker who is understood to establish as nonbinary. Safety guards acquired backup from Los Angeles Police Division officers someday after 2 p.m., and a standoff ensued that lasted for about 90 minutes, in line with native information studies. LAPD officers ultimately escorted frightened staffers to their automobiles. No arrests had been made, however injury had been accomplished.

Brentwood, a tony enclave of Los Angeles’ Westside, is residence to an extended checklist of bold-faced names together with Garner, Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Ben Affleck, Disney’s Bob Iger and Dana Walden, Los Angeles Lakers celebrity LeBron James and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Opened in 1948, Country Mart is greater than only a rustic, red-roofed out of doors mall the place neighbors go for lunch, luxurious garments and jewellery or last-minute presents. It’s, for all sensible functions, Brentwood’s beloved see-and-be-seen city sq.. Country Mart’s web site refers back to the vacation spot as a “community center” and a central assembly place over many a long time for Hollywood luminaries like Joan Crawford, Elizabeth Taylor, Burt Lancaster, Shirley Temple, Olivia de Havilland and others. Diesel Bookstore, a part of a franchise, has been at the Country Mart for 16 years and has hosted authors, households and book-lovers for official and unofficial gatherings.

It’s located between two courtyards and close to such companies as Farmshop, Lloyd’s Barbershop, Christian Louboutin’s boutique, Damaged English jewellery retailer, magnificence retailer Cos Bar and males’s vogue model Sid Mashburn, and not removed from James Perse, amongst different shops. Movie star jewellery designer Irene Neuwirth, who’s Jewish and has proven assist for Israel on social media, additionally maintains a store there.

Following the incident, workers and enterprise homeowners across the Country Mart drew strains within the sand defining the place they stood on the hot-button points that sparked the heated confrontation.

“Considering the environment, it was not a smart choice for them to sell that book,” defined one staffer at a close-by boutique who wished to stay nameless. “You have to know your audience and where you are. Brentwood and the Country Mart are full of Jewish people. It’s offensive to a lot of people.” The lady, who’s Jewish, identified that Vice President and present White Home hopeful Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, who can also be Jewish, incessantly go to the Country Mart when they’re at their Brentwood residence. The Wall Avenue Journal reported that Country Mart workers confer with Emhoff as “Dougie,” and he typically reveals up alone for espresso and a bagel at Farmshop or to get a haircut at Lloyd’s Barbershop. Within the viral clip of the bookstore standoff, Understanding Hamas is located on a desk instantly subsequent to Harris’ The Truths We Maintain: An American Journey, her 2019 memoir.

“There is sadness on both sides,” interjected one other staffer at the identical boutique. “I’m not surprised that a protest happened, but there is no wrong answer in this.” The assertion was instantly met with pressure by her peer, who fired again: “That’s not true. There’s only one right answer — end of discussion. Look at what happened on October 7. People were killed and have since been raped and tortured by Hamas. It’s horrible and offensive to sell a book like that. I won’t ever buy anything there again.” She continued by saying that whereas the e book has been faraway from retailer cabinets, it was nonetheless being bought on Diesel’s web site. She finds that offensive and predicts extra fallout. “I have a client who asked me to ship her items because she’s scared to come here,” she added.

In one other retailer, a Jewish staffer provided a sympathetic response. “A book offended people, but that doesn’t mean it’s OK to harass people. They scared [a Diesel staffer] who is a 17-year-old minor. They put [their] face online and threatened [them]. It’s very sad that that happened.” The particular person referred to as it a “mistake” to have the e book so prominently displayed and prompt it ought to have been positioned in a Center Jap part alongside different books concerning the decades-long battle. “They are a bookstore allowed to carry books with different perspectives. It’s freedom of speech, and I don’t believe in banning books of any kind. But I do understand the anger.”

A staffer at a high-end vogue retailer at the Country Mart lamented the controversy. “We live in a world where people just read headlines and book covers. Do people even know what’s in the book? Have they read it? Can’t they just walk past and ignore it?” questioned the worker. “The owner apologized and it seemed genuine to me. Can’t we just move on now? Personally, what matters most to me is kindness, tolerance and respect.”

Including gas to the hearth, Diesel Bookstore’s Instagram account posted, deleted and reposted an apology. It’s gone once more, however an announcement that doubles as a normal introduction to the neighborhood stays reside. Brentwood residents Richard and Heather Turner assumed management of the bookstore on Aug. 1, after buying it from longtime homeowners Alison Reid and John Evans. “We are passionate readers who believe in the free exchange of ideas and stories,” the submit learn. “We have no political agenda and have not yet even had the chance to shape much of the content of the store. … We want to tell you definitively, the book in question does not represent our values.”

The earlier homeowners dedicated to staying on for a number of months through the transition, but it surely stays unclear who’s liable for ordering and displaying the e book. The brand new homeowners responded instantly to the outcry by becoming a member of Scooter Braun, the über supervisor turned HYBE America CEO, on the identical Wednesday that The Hollywood Reporter visited Country Mart, for an unique go to at L.A.’s Nova Exhibition in reminiscence of the 364 individuals who had been killed by Hamas terrorists whereas attending the Nova Music Competition.

“The reason I love this bookstore is it is filled always with books that I as a proud Jewish father can share with my children about their heritage. Whether it be Passover or Hanukkah or Rosh Hashanah. This store includes books of all different types of people, religious and cultures, and unfortunately included a title that was filled with misinformation and hate,” he posted to his 3.7 million followers together with a photograph of himself and the Turners standing side-by-side with two Nova survivors. “The young 17-year-old book clerk made a mistake based on a lack of education and understanding, and because of this, many have come to unfairly protest this bookstore as antisemitic. I’m posting this picture because not only is that not true, but the bookstore themselves made a statement immediately after that was representative of who we are as a community.”

Braun famous how the couple spent three hours at the Nova exhibit. “This is the type of leadership the world needs,” he wrote, encouraging his followers to assist them and to maintain bookstores alive. The homeowners declined to remark for this story.

A fellow Westside bookstore proprietor had different ideas. Zibby Owens is the CEO and founding father of Zibby Media, which encompasses an award-winning podcast, boutique publishing arm, a e book membership, reside occasions and the unbiased bookstore Zibby’s Bookshop on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. The Yale College graduate can also be an creator and editor of a number of books together with the forthcoming On Being Jewish Now, out this week and impressed by how life has modified for the reason that tragic Oct. 7 assaults. It options notable contributors like Mark Feuerstein, Jill Zarin, Bess Kalb, Rebecca Minkoff, Amy Ephron and rabbi Steve Leder.

“It was heartbreaking for me as a Jewish person, a Jewish book lover and Jewish bookstore owner to see a book like [Understanding Hamas] prominently displayed and being defended by an employee. I’ve loved Diesel and have being going there forever,” provided Owens, who presently lives in New York. She is a former L.A. resident and frequent Brentwood and Country Mart customer. “I don’t think bookstores should be espousing hate or supporting terrorists in any way. That’s not the role of a bookstore. … The whole bookstore experience is typically one of pride and positivity. To bring in conflict in this way felt very personal.”

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Jonathan Herman (Straight Outta Compton) described comparable feelings over an incident at Skylight Books in L.A.’s Los Feliz neighborhood this previous spring. After studying by way of an leisure trade activist WhatsApp group that Skylight was promoting the e book Hamas: From Resistance to Regime by Paola Caridi (an creator credited on the e book at the middle of the Diesel controversy), Herman went straight to Skylight, a spot that he had been frequenting for practically 20 years.

“I decided on my way there that I would buy whatever copies were there, pay for them and make some kind of statement. When I arrived, I got more and more pissed off because it was a really positive book celebrating Hamas as some kind of respectable revolutionary organization. So I set up my phone and recorded my interactions with the workers who were all very polite but acted like they didn’t know anything and couldn’t do anything about it. I paid for the books and started tearing them to shreds. It took a long time, about five minutes, to do it because the book is really thick so they all just ended up ignoring me and pretending as if I weren’t there.”

Herman has by no means been again to Skylight, which was as soon as his favourite bookstore. “It’s totally fucked up that they would sell a book like that, not only in Los Angeles but in Brentwood where there are a lot of Jewish people. Don’t sell books that will be dangerous to the people who live there,” Herman continued. “There’s nothing journalistic about any of theses books. It’s fake hagiography of Hamas and dangerous text. It’s all fucking bullshit and fucking gross.”

He mentioned he’s dissatisfied concerning the quantity of misinformation within the air relating to the Israel-Hamas battle and the deeper conflicts between Israel and Palestine. He added that he is aware of how complicated and nuanced the historical past could be, and books like these solely reinforce troubling narratives about Israel and Jewish folks. “We prefer to have peace.”