After a Palestinian activist was excluded from a Decatur book talk, a pastor hopes to make amends

After a Palestinian activist was refused entry to an event last week at First Baptist Church in Decatur, a leader of that church is expressing regret—and hoping to make amends. 

On Friday, Atlanta-area residents filed into the church to hear U.S. Senator Cory Booker speak about his new book, Stand, described on the publisher’s website as “an urgent call to rekindle our shared American ideals.”

But when Stone Mountain resident Jawahir Sharwany, a frequent presence at local pro-Palestine and immigrant rights protests, attempted to enter, private security officers turned her away. Jawahir had previously paid for a ticket to the private event. 

In a video of the incident filmed from inside the church, recorded by Amy Paulder, who also came to attend the event, Jawahir—who wears a hijab and was wearing a “Stop Arming Israel” shirt—says to the officer, “I don’t have any weapons, I don’t have anything, I’m not saying anything vulgar, why you’re not letting me in.” 

Though the audio is muffled, the officer can be heard responding, “You’re being disruptive,” then he blocks the door. In videos shared with 285 South, Jawahir is visibly frustrated, asking multiple times why she’s being kept out.  

Later, after the church doors were shut, the private security officer is recorded telling witnesses, “She was disorderly in front of us.”

Decatur police officers, who were also present outside the event, said no arrests were made and no further investigation was warranted.

Jawahir, who was born and raised in Palestine, said she feels she was targeted because of her identity. “I was the only Muslim hijabi in the line,” she told 285 South.

Video of the incident quickly spread on social media—and sparked controversy. On Wednesday, the Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, issued a statement saying it “denounced the decision of the event planners” to prevent Jawahir from entering the building. Noting that Jawahir was “the only visibly Muslim and Palestinian woman waiting peacefully in line to enter the event,” CAIR-Georgia executive director Azka Mahmood said, “We are appalled by this overt display of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian discrimination outside a house of worship.”

David Jordan, senior pastor at First Baptist Church Decatur, said the church was not responsible for security at the event. The official sponsor was Brave and Kind Books, who he said also was handling security. 285 South reached out to Brave and Kind, as well as Senator Booker’s office, for comment, but hasn’t received a response from either.

Pastor David gave the official welcome to Booker and Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock, who interviewed Booker at the event. In an interview this week, he noted that multiple people inside the church were wearing shirts that said “Free Gaza” and “No Genocide in Gaza.” One, he said, stood up and “was trying to make a statement, and Senator Booker was in the middle of saying something. He just said,‘ Thank you for exercising your First Amendment right. We appreciate what you’re passionate about.’ And he kept talking and she kept yelling. And then after a minute, she sat down and he went on. I don’t think she was removed.” 

Activists have criticized Booker for accepting more than $800,000 from the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC. In March, Booker told Politico that he had “sworn off” accepting funds from AIPAC, though he had accepted over $7,000 as recently as December. In 2025, he voted against blocking arms sales to Israel, whose war in Gaza—backed by the U.S.—has left over 75,000 dead, and possibly many more than that. The U.S. and Israel’s war in Iran has killed more than 3,000 people in Iran, Lebanon, and nearby countries since late February 2026.

Pastor David said he didn’t hear about what happened with Jawahir until after the event, when a police officer informed him of an “incident” that was “a little bit rowdy” but “all worked out,” he recalled. Still, he said Jawahir’s exclusion didn’t reflect the values of the organizations hosting the event. “It really is unfortunate that both [the church and Brave and Kind Books] look like we don’t care about somebody who got excluded from an event,” Pastor David said. “We very much do care, and both of our organizations are trying to promote community and diversity and welcoming. So, yeah, it’s unfortunate that it came across the opposite of what we intended.”

Pastor David has been educating himself about the situation in Palestine since the early 1980s, when he visited Israel and Egypt while studying abroad, he said. “We were staying in hotels that a lot of the people, the workers in the hotel and the people at the front desk and folks in the restaurant, [were] Palestinians. Every now and then they would say, You need to know about our story, we are prisoners here.” 

Ever since, he’s been educating congregants and community members about the situation in the region. The Decatur church hosts a range of events, including the Decatur Book Festival—but navigating the current political climate is not always simple. In December, the church held a fundraiser for a Palestinian Christian organization in Bethlehem that attracted pushback from “random people,” Pastor David said—as well as “tons of super positive support.” 

“I think we can be both pro-Palestinian and pro-Jewish. I don’t know that I feel comfortable being pro-Israeli right now, given the crazy world we’re living in, and Benjamin Netanyahu is, I think, Donald Trump syndrome,” he said. “The thing that concerns me is, we’re so much now taking sides where it’s hard to be both.”

He said he understands concerns around Senator Booker receiving money from groups like AIPAC: “He seems like he’s too pro Israeli. He has voted to supply weapons to the IDF. So I get it.” 

Jawahir said she’s touched by the “beautiful, brave ladies” who stood alongside her during the entire incident, she said. 

Pastor David is hoping to connect with her soon so that he can apologize personally, he said: “I regret that all this happened, and I’m sorry there’s so much confusion about it.”