Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This: A Powerful Chronicle of Gaza and Western Hypocrisy

What Is Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This: National Book Award?

Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This: National Book Award is Omar El Akkad’s searing 2025 nonfiction masterpiece. The book examines Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and Western moral failure. Moreover, it challenges readers to confront their own complicity in global suffering. El Akkad won the National Book Award for this unflinching work.

This isn’t just another political commentary. Instead, it’s a deeply personal reckoning with truth and silence. El Akkad blends memoir, journalism, and literary craft to create something extraordinary. Therefore, readers experience both intellectual challenge and emotional devastation.

The book targets Western centrists and liberals specifically. These audiences often remain silent about Gaza’s suffering. Yet they claim to champion human rights elsewhere. Consequently, El Akkad exposes this dangerous double standard.

The Viral Tweet That Sparked a Movement

On October 25, 2023, El Akkad posted a prophetic tweet. Gaza’s bombardment was only three weeks old then. However, the author already saw the pattern emerging clearly. His words captured a painful truth about moral cowardice.

The tweet read: “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.” This statement went viral immediately. In fact, it has been viewed over 10 million times. People recognized the uncomfortable accuracy of his observation.

That single tweet became the foundation for Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This: National Book Award. El Akkad expanded his insight into a full-length examination. Therefore, readers get a comprehensive analysis of Western hypocrisy. The book transforms a moment of social media clarity into lasting literary impact.

Core Themes: Gaza’s Suffering and Western Double Standards

El Akkad contrasts Gaza’s horror with Western comfort throughout the book. He describes images of slaughtered children in graphic detail. Meanwhile, his own children play safely far from war zones. This juxtaposition creates unbearable tension for readers.

The author doesn’t shy away from calling Gaza’s crisis what it is: genocide. Western nations preach democracy and human rights constantly. Yet they remain silent while civilians die in Gaza. Therefore, El Akkad argues that Western values are fundamentally hollow.

Key themes explored in the book include:

• The gap between Western rhetoric and Western action
• How distance allows moral detachment from suffering
• The role of media in sanitizing violence
• Why people wait until it’s safe to speak truth
• The cost of silence and complicity

El Akkad also examines how truth bends around Gaza’s gravity. Like a black hole, the crisis distorts everything nearby. Facts become debatable, and atrocities become “complex situations.” Consequently, accountability becomes impossible to achieve.

The Author’s Unique Approach: Novelist Meets Journalist

Omar El Akkad brings dual expertise to this project. He’s an award-winning novelist and experienced journalist. Therefore, he combines deep empathy with penetrating analytical skill. This blend makes the book both beautiful and devastating.

As a novelist, El Akkad understands character and emotional truth. He finds the universal within Gaza’s particular horror. Meanwhile, his journalistic training ensures factual rigor and clarity. The result is a work that educates while it moves readers deeply.

El Akkad was born in Egypt and grew up in Qatar. He moved to Canada as a teenager. Now he lives in the United States. Consequently, he understands multiple perspectives on Middle Eastern conflicts. His background informs every page of the book.

The author has won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award twice. He’s also won the Oregon Book Award for fiction twice. Yet Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This: National Book Award represents new territory. It’s his first major nonfiction work.

Critical Reception: Awards and Reader Response

The book became a New York Times bestseller immediately upon release. Critics praised its courage and moral clarity. Moreover, it won the 2025 National Book Award for Nonfiction. This recognition validated El Akkad’s unflinching approach.

Dina Nayeri, writing for The Guardian, called it “passionate, poetic and sickening.” She noted the book is “full of well-earned rage.” Other reviewers emphasized its importance for Western audiences. Therefore, the critical consensus recognizes both literary merit and political significance.

The book’s reception highlights include:

1. National Book Award Winner (2025)
2. New York Times Bestseller
3. #1 Best Seller in Democracy category
4. Over 3,600 reader reviews averaging 4.6 stars
5. Widespread media coverage and discussion

During his acceptance speech, El Akkad spoke powerfully about the work’s context. He said, “It’s difficult to think in celebratory terms when I have spent two years seeing what shrapnel does to a child’s body.” His words reminded audiences why the book exists. Fellow winner Rabih Alameddine even asked El Akkad to repeat his speech.

Why Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This Matters Now

This book serves as a moral wake-up call for Western readers. It forces confrontation with uncomfortable truths about complicity. Moreover, it challenges the narratives we tell ourselves about justice. El Akkad refuses to let readers look away from Gaza’s reality.

The title itself predicts a shameful future. Eventually, people will claim they opposed Gaza’s destruction all along. However, their current silence tells a different story. Therefore, the book creates a historical record of who spoke when it mattered.

El Akkad illuminates a path toward understanding despite overwhelming darkness. He shows that bearing witness matters even when change seems impossible. Also, he demonstrates that literature can still serve moral purposes. The book proves that words retain power in our cynical age.

Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This: National Book Award will likely become required reading. It documents not just Gaza’s suffering but Western moral failure. Future generations will study it to understand our moment. Consequently, El Akkad’s work transcends immediate political debates to achieve lasting significance.