An Amazon employee who inserted a note that read “Death to Zionists” inside a copy of a book on Israel before it was shipped to a customer has been suspended.

Michael Sharp ordered a copy of Israelophobia by JC Editor Jake Wallis Simons on Friday, and it was delivered the following day, whereupon he discovered the threatening message.

He said: “I took the book out of the packaging, and I think the edge of the note might have been protruding slightly and so the book naturally fell open on that page.

“It was a tiny scrap of paper, just a few centimetres long, ripped off from a larger piece, and inserted about halfway through the book.”

Michael says his initial reaction was “slight surprise”, before noticing that the person who wrote the note was “clearly of poor English or education” because the word “Zionists” was misspelled.

“I was just shocked, really,” Michael said, “I never felt threatened or in danger, just surprised, and disappointed. A sad reflection of the situation we find ourselves living in.”

Michael immediately reported the incident to Amazon.

Amazon assured the JC they are treating the incident “extremely seriously”, and would be reaching out to Michael, Jake Wallis Simons and his publisher to apologise. They have also offered Michael a £100 gift card.

An Amazon spokesperson said: “We have taken this issue very seriously and an employee has been suspended pending the outcome of our investigation. We have apologised to the impacted customer and author.”