SUBSCRIBER-ONLY NEWSLETTER
By David Wallace-Wells
Opinion Writer
On Oct. 25, 2023, the Egyptian Canadian novelist Omar El Akkad shared on social media a video of a devastated, rubble-strewn Gaza street, the kind of image that at that time, still retained the power to shock. He added, “One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.”
In time, the post became a book, with a striking cover for the British edition that reprinted the original text as its title. In the United States, the cover bore a shorter version of the title: “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This.” This month, as Israel began its sudden offensive against Iran and just before American bombers joined in — opening up the possibility of a much-expanded and much-extended regional conflict, or perhaps even World War III — I found myself staring at those book covers, and wondering … will they? Or is the world more likely to just move on, now?
