"No, there is no terrible thing coming for you in some distant future, but know that a terrible thing is happening to you now. You are being asked to kill off a part of you that would otherwise scream in opposition to injustice. You are being asked to dismantle the machinery of a functioning conscience."

Omar El Akkad writes with immense clarity and power about Palestine, colonization, and Western framing of political violence. There is no one book that can teach you everything you need to know about what's happening in Gaza, but this book will certainly open your eyes to the ways the truth has been distorted. Highly recommend.

“It is a hallmark of failing societies, I’ve learned, [the] requirement that one always be in possession of a valid reason to exist.” Near the beginning of his book, author Omar El Akkad says this in reference to Egypt in the 80s after the death of Sadat, but it is immediately clear that he also means to call to mind several parallels in today’s world. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This is a bleak book that takes a rightfully dim view of global geopolitics and isn’t afraid to spread the blame around, as no one person or political party is responsible for how things got this way. It’s also a deeply personal and highly engaging read, that most will get through in a day and immediately consider rereading.

El Akkad worked most of his adult life as a reporter and as a result has seen a lot of recent history’s most contentious and dangerous places up close, such as Taliban-led Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, both of which he discusses here. But it’s the story his father told him of Egyptian soldiers harassing him as he was returning home from work one night that has stuck with him most and shaped his “overarching view of political malice: an ephemeral relationship with both law and principle. Rules, conventions, morals, reality itself: all exist so long as their existence is convenient to the preservation of power. Otherwise, they, like all else, are expendable.”

While it has wide-reaching implications, the core focus of the book is Israel’s recent violent incursion into Gaza. He begins by necessarily recalling the horrific attack Hamas’s military wing carried out on October 7, 2023, an act that no moral person could ever condone. But then Israel’s disproportionately large response is discussed. Its indefensibility is laid out plainly and its place in a long, ongoing line of state-sanctioned violence against minority groups is dissected and analyzed.

He is justifiably angry over the myriad injustices he describes in this brief tome and many readers will find themselves feeling the same as they read. It isn’t all directed where they expect either. Sure, the usual people and groups pop up here, but he asserts that everyone bears at least some of the blame, including the liberals who purport to care about such things but then do nothing, or in some cases further contribute to the problems, and then wonder why they are losing support amongst the oppressed. On the recent statements and actions of the Democratic Party he concludes, “It can’t be both rhetorical urgency and policymaking impotence.”

The book isn’t all doom and gloom however. Thankfully, he wraps up by giving the reader some hope that their actions and voices matter, even when it can become so easy to feel like they don’t. We are being increasingly conditioned to tolerate worse and worse in nearly all aspects of life and all we need to do to change things is stop accepting it. We are at a precipitous moment in human civilization, and it behooves us all to start paying attention. One way to do so is by reading this elegant, enraging, enlightening entreaty.

I listened to this audiobook, which the author read. The first part of the book, where he recounts his life, was easy to listen to. Once the book became more about current events - specifically the Gaza war - I probably would have preferred to have read it to be able to digest his points better. An important, nuanced, prognostic writer and book.

Full of anger and condemnation, but not devoid of hope. Omar El Akkad filters everything through his own personal experiences, which helps ensure that his message doesn’t come across as lip service. It’s a book intended to rattle us comfortable Westerners, and it succeeds.

I've found that some of the most effective, moving writing is simultaneously two things: simple and powerful. Powerful enough to resonate, to shock, to make you consider (or reconsider), but at the end of the page, rooted in a delivery so honest and to the point that it just makes *sense*.

This book is my first introduction to Omar El Akkad, and his writing is just that. 'One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This' feels like commiserating with an intelligent, compassionate friend about the genocide in Gaza. There's a thread of hope, a thread of powerlessness, threads of rage and confusion and acceptance of "Oh, of course the powers that be would do this thing or act this way." He weaves all of those emotions through vignettes of his life and experiences, setting them against what we've seen come out of Gaza this past year. It's a commanding, fascinating read and, without a doubt, a crucial read for this moment in time. It's worth saying that I received an eARC of the book and the only con is that I couldn't physically underline passages and dog-ear the pages. There's just so, so much to be taken from it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

(And yes, FREE PALESTINE.)

Omar El Akkad is back with another sharp, unsettling, and eerily prophetic collection that blurs the lines between past, present, and future. The title alone sets the tone: a meditation on revisionist history, collective denial, and the uncomfortable truths we try to erase.

✔ A mix of essays and fiction that feel almost too real
✔ Themes of war, displacement, and political amnesia
✔ Short but deeply impactful—every word hits hard

If you loved American War or What Strange Paradise, this will sink its teeth into your brain and refuse to let go. Expect to be unsettled, challenged, and left questioning everything.

This is a powerful look at the current situation in Gaza -- it does not just vilify one side or the other (in terms of American politics) but rather looks at the impact of ignoring or even just looking away from a genocide that is basically being live=streamed daily. This is a must-read for all Americans.

El Akkad offers a perspective that is not only crucial but also brutally honest. While his focus is on the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people, a crisis that desperately needs global attention, the themes he addresses resonate far beyond this specific tragedy. They speak to the broader, unsettling patterns of how the West has historically acted, is acting now, and will continue to act in the future.

I often preface recommendations on tougher subjects with a gentle warning, advising readers to be in the right headspace. While I do not wish to dismiss the importance of mental health, I encourage you to lean into the discomfort for a few hundred pages and pick up One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This when it releases on February 25th. It offers a much-needed perspective.

And, of course, it wouldn't be a proper review without mentioning that the writing is stunning.

"One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This" - the title says it all. Omar El Akkad shares a raw truth that unfortunately too many people will realize too late. The West promises lands of freedom and justice, yet it turns its back on those who are struggling and facing unimaginable injustices. The West has always been able to control the narrative of global events; turning U.S funded soldiers into heros and innocent civilians into casualties of war. El Akkad voices what people need to hear, denial harms everyone involved.

This memoir hits every nerve it needs to. When we live in a world of comfort it can be difficult to imagine the suffering others are enduring. The genocide of Palestinian people is real regardless of which governmental body is willing to acknowledge it. El Akkad tells his lived experiences in a way that is undeniable. We as a society need to start standing up against this genocide, we needed to stand up forty years ago. However, since time travel isn't possible yet, the second best time to take a stand is now.

This one is fantastic. Some really beautiful and sharp writing on empire and the hypocrisy that makes empire possible and powerful. It’s smart how he anchors the book with Gaza and genocide and circled back through both personal essay, cultural touchstones, and other examples of empire sacrificing humans to save itself. The moral clarity is refreshing as hell.

A hard look at what it means to look away from the atrocities of Israel-Palestine as someone who lives in the Western Empire. At times, it gives resonance of James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, and other times, it becomes a voice all of its own with its sense of rage and questioning. I found myself wanting to learn more of what it means to be a journalist who is a product of two worlds, and to be an observer of these worlds. I also wished to learn more family history, which was equally as compelling to read.

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad is a bold, raw reckoning with Western ideals, their promises, and their failures. Written with passion and urgency, this book captures El Akkad’s profound disillusionment with a system that he feels has betrayed its promises, especially toward Black, brown, and Indigenous people. This disillusionment is something many Westerners may struggle to grasp fully, but El Akkad’s perspective is valuable for understanding the worldviews of those often marginalized or overlooked.

Reading this book felt intense, almost like being reprimanded by someone who has seen too much suffering and betrayal to stay silent. While El Akkad’s anger is at times overwhelming, his fury is born of experience, loss, and hard truths that demand to be acknowledged. As a white Midwestern man, I found myself grappling with some of his points, often feeling unable to fully relate but knowing his perspective is crucial and rooted in realities I may never fully experience or understand.

Though I don’t connect with his experiences directly, the book touched me on a fundamental level: as a human, I could empathize with his pain and frustration. And while I wouldn’t put my family or their well-being on the line for any ideology, I do believe this book serves as a powerful opportunity to listen to voices we seldom hear in mainstream narratives. This isn’t a book that seeks comfort or acceptance—it’s a challenge to see the cracks in Western ideals and the real impact of their shortcomings.

For anyone ready to confront these uncomfortable truths, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This is worth the read. It’s thought-provoking and important, a true book for our time.