Sydney library reinstates Gaza critique book after state intervention

In the weeks following a deadly antisemitic attack on Bondi beach, a Sydney library removed a book critical of Israel's actions in Gaza after a survivor expressed distress at its prominent display — only to reinstate it days later under legal pressure from the NSW State Library and a petition signed by nearly 2,500 people. The episode, unfolding at Waverley library in August 2026, sits at the intersection of grief, governance, and the ancient question of who decides what a community is permitted to think about. Libraries have long served as quiet guarantors of intellectual freedom, and this mo