A public outcry followed the apprehension of two east Jerusalemites by police officers in a well-known bookstore – east Jerusalem’s Educational Bookshop – on Monday.
According to Imad Muna, one of Educational Bookshop’s proprietors, officers said the raid targeted material that incites violence, though he dismissed the allegations as baseless.
According to Haaretz, police later revised the allegations – downgrading the charge from incitement to suspicion of disturbing public order – and arrested Muna’s brother, Mahmoud, and Muna’s son, Ahmad. The two attended a hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Monday morning, and the police requested an eight-day extension of their custody.
“It’s a disgrace,” Muna said. “Look where we’ve got to.”
and their owner, Mahmoud Muna.Here are some of the books that were taken during the search: pic.twitter.com/2U0dfNWtaT
— نير حسون Nir Hasson ניר חסון (@nirhasson) February 9, 2025
Muna, speaking to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency from the United States during a visit, remarked that if he had been at home, he would have been arrested instead of his son and brother.
Police said that as part of the investigation, detectives found numerous books containing incitement material with nationalist Palestinian themes, including a children’s coloring book titled From the River to the Sea.
Police combed through the store’s inventory and confiscated more than 100 books, including books with “nothing more than [a] Palestinian flag,” he said, adding that officers also used Google Translate to identify titles and passages within the books.
“They didn’t speak any Arabic,” he said. “They googled images, and whatever they didn’t like, they took.”
Israel Police said they were pursuing “crimes intended to harm Israeli citizens” and that officers had “uncovered several books with inciting material that contain nationalistic Palestinian themes.”
Haaretz reported that despite claims that the two owners were suspected of incitement to terror, such a suspicion would require approval from the prosecutor’s office.
Instead, Haaretz said, the police used the generic umbrella “suspicion of violating public order” and proceeded with the night arrest.
“The Educational Bookshop is not just another bookstore,” it added. “Every diplomat, journalist, or researcher of Jerusalem and the conflict knows these stores.”
It’s Time Coalition, a peace coalition that is organizing the People’s Peace Conference in May in Jerusalem, stated: “This is a bookstore, and its people are an important part of the shared future we envision for Jerusalem.
“The arrest and confiscation not only harm the right to free expression and the freedom of information but also place the city’s future on the brink. We must fight for a Jerusalem of peace and partnership, not one of fear and oppression.”
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel “strongly condemned” the raid, calling it “an attempt to intimidate freedom of thought and expression under the guise of combating incitement, a characteristic of oppressive regimes.”
Raiding a high-profile location
IN RAIDING the Educational Bookshop, police targeted a high-profile location known to visitors from across the globe. It is a common stop on the itineraries of American Jewish groups visiting east Jerusalem, and it sells coffee along with its stacks of literature.
“As the People of the Book, we understand more than most the dangers of silencing voices and restricting access to knowledge. The scenes from today’s raid are evocative of darker times in our own history,” said Yona Shem-Tov, CEO of the nonprofit Encounter, which has brought groups of Diaspora Jewish leaders to the store.
“We must stand up for the Muna [family] and for the continued free exchange of ideas now more than ever.”
German Ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert wrote on X/Twitter, “I, like many diplomats, enjoy browsing for books at Educational Bookshop. I know its owners, the Muna family, to be peace-loving proud Palestinian Jerusalemites, open for discussion and intellectual exchange. I am concerned to hear of the raid and their detention in prison.”
Other diplomatic representatives from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Brazil, France, Switzerland, Ireland, Sweden, and the EU came to the courthouse in Jerusalem on Monday to express solidarity with the bookstore owners ahead of the hearing.
Muna, who has run his store since the 1980s, insisted that the books in his collection were neither illegal nor inciting and said he did not stock books by or about deceased terrorist leaders Hassan Nasrallah or Yahya Sinwar.
“Everything we sell is available through major distributors in the UK, US, and Europe,” he said.
Attorney Nasser Odeh, representing the bookstore owners, said the charge against them was switched from incitement to disturbing public order after police realized they couldn’t secure prosecution approval for incitement.
“I have never encountered a case where someone is held in custody overnight for suspicion of disturbing public order,” Haaretz cited Odeh as saying.
Karen Brunwasser, co-CEO of FeelBeit – an organization that promotes dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians through arts and culture – said she has known the two detainees for over a decade.
“They are very strong in their Palestinian identity, and at the same time, always engage deeply, honestly, and in good faith with Israelis and Jews from all over the world,” said Brunwasser, a Philadelphia native who moved to Israel in 2005. “This has sent a chill down the spine for a lot of Jerusalemites who have respect for them on both sides of the city.”