SHOCKING: Amazon Defaces Holocaust Survivor Books With Antisemitic Slurs, Refuses To Take Any Corrective Action – ACLJ Sends Legal Demand Letter

In a shocking display of antisemitic vandalism, an Amazon employee defaced an American-Israeli author’s books about her Holocaust-survivor father with blatantly antisemitic tropes before they were delivered. We’re fighting back.

Antisemitic actions are on the rise across the country. The ACLJ is at the forefront in fighting against antisemitism, whether it be defending a parent sued for defamation for criticizing an anti-Israel teacher or our submissions at the U.N. pushing back against the radical anti-Israel agenda. We sent a legal letter today to Amazon on behalf of a Jewish woman who had a memoir she wrote about her father, a Holocaust survivor, defaced before delivery with antisemitic slurs.

Mrs. Melanie Webster is an American-Israeli. She wrote a memoir about her father called A Daughter of the Holocaust, which she published under her maiden name, Melanie Sol. She self-published this memoir through Amazon’s subsidiary, Kindle Direct Publishing. She recently ordered printed copies of her book to give out to close friends and family. When Mrs. Webster opened the delivered books, she discovered that every copy had been defaced with antisemitic slurs and threatening messages like “Zionism kills Jews” and “From the River to the Sea Palestine Will be Free.” Despite multiple attempts to resolve this issue through Amazon’s customer service channels, Mrs. Webster received inadequate responses and was initially denied assistance due to an expired return window. This response ignored the fact that the defacement was only discovered when Mrs. Webster personally opened the books months after delivery to her son’s address.

Here is an example of the terrible defacement on the books:

Mrs. Webster contacted Amazon about the defaced books and made repeated attempts to seek a satisfactory resolution of this matter, but to no avail. In fact, Amazon completely refused to replace the destroyed books.

The ACLJ issued a formal legal demand letter to Amazon. First, we point out that federal law prohibits racial discrimination in the performance of a contract. Federal law, 42 USC § 1981, prohibits racial discrimination in contractual obligations, and the U.S. Supreme Court has emphasized that it “applies to all phases and incidents of the contractual relationship.” Here, the racial discrimination is the failure to properly and fully perform the delivery contract, and to instead deliver a racially offensive message on the books she ordered. Melanie Webster is a Jew, a member of an ethnic minority. But for the racial discrimination here, the product would have been properly delivered.

We also argued that this failure to properly deliver the product was a breach of Amazon’s contract relationship and the intentional infliction of emotional distress. Quite unlike a misprint or other technical noncompliance, Amazon’s breach here is potentially racially motivated hate speech. Rather than being comforted by copies of her own memoir preserving a precious personal history of the Holocaust, Melanie Webster is now in possession of racially abusive hate speech in the form of veiled death threats. This is a breach of contract, and she cannot even get the books replaced.

We’re demanding that Amazon:

1. Replace the destroyed books.

2. Conduct a thorough investigation of this conduct.

3. Provide Mrs. Webster with confirmation that the responsible party has been terminated and a report of the investigation.

4. Respond by January 23, 2025.

It is apparent that an Amazon employee became aware that a customer was a Jewish descendant of a Holocaust survivor. They then wrote egregiously offensive, threatening, and outrageous comments with full knowledge of the particular type of customer who would receive these messages. Given this knowledge, no reasonable person would expect Mrs. Webster to endure these racially abusive comments without emotional distress.

This targeted antisemitic attack has left Mrs. Webster deeply distressed, particularly knowing that someone with access to her family’s contact information deliberately defaced her father’s Holocaust memoir with hate speech. This case represents more than just a contract dispute – it highlights the rising tide of antisemitism in corporate America. The intentional defacement of a Holocaust memoir by someone with access to customer information and shipping addresses represents a serious security concern for Jewish authors and customers.

The ACLJ is prepared to take legal action if Amazon fails to adequately address this egregious violation of Mrs. Webster’s rights and dignity. We will not stand idle while antisemitism goes unchecked in corporate America. The ACLJ is committed to fighting antisemitism and defending religious liberty.