Israel's arrest of Jerusalem bookshop owners sends ‘chilling message’ to Palestinians

Demonstrators gather outside East Jerusalem court a day after Mahmoud and Ahmad Muna were charged with disturbing public order

Booksellers Ahmad, left, and Mahmoud Muna appear in court after their arrest during a police raid of their Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem. AP

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Israeli police raided two branches of East Jerusalem’s Educational Bookshop on Sunday and detained its owners, prompting outrage among Palestinian and Israeli intellectuals and adding to fears that Israel is cracking down on freedom of expression.

A police statement originally said officers arrested Mahmoud Muna and Ahmad Muna on charges of “selling books containing incitement and support for terrorism”, but then changed the charges to suspicion of disturbing public order. Police requested an eight-day extension of their detention on Monday, with a judge eventually ordering the pair be held for an extra day.

Specialising in English and Arabic titles relating to the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Educational Bookshop chain is one of the most well-known bookshops in the Holy Land and an intellectual centre frequented by tourists, journalists, activists and diplomats.

Police combed through books, confiscating dozens in a raid on Sunday. They said: “Detectives encountered numerous books containing inciteful material with nationalist Palestinian themes, including a children's colouring book titled From the River to the Sea."

Pictures circulated by an Israeli journalist of one of the shops after the police raid showed dozens of books strewn across the floor.

The pair’s lawyer, Nasser Odeh, said the arrest was “illegal” and “part of the political suppression against people in East Jerusalem”. He added that after the extra day of detention, both would be released under house arrest for five days and banned from entering their shops for 15 days.

People protest outside the court, where booksellers Ahmad and Mahmoud Muna are set to appear, in East Jerusalem on Monday. AP

Israel has long faced accusations that it suppresses critical material but critics say the problem has become far worse since the Gaza war broke out in October 2023. Since then, professors have been arrested and people hounded out of workplaces for expressing solidarity with Palestinians.

A small crowd of Palestinian and Israeli demonstrators gathered in support of the pair on Monday morning, as both appeared in Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court. Inside, representatives from Belgium, Brazil, the EU, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, as well as numerous international journalists, gathered to attend proceedings.

Nathan Thrall, author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on the conflict, told The National outside the court that the arrest was an “outrage”.

“It sends a chilling message to all Palestinians in Jerusalem because these are two of the most well-connected people, people who you would think would be the most immune from this sort of abuse,” he said.

Steffen Seibert, German ambassador to Israel, said he was “concerned to hear of the raid”.

“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,” Mr Seibert said in a post on X.

Palestinian professor Dalal Saeb Iriqat described the arrests as “a war on knowledge and truth”.

“Israel is systematically silencing educators, journalists and intellectuals – those who empower society through learning and free thought,” Prof Iriqat wrote on Facebook. “Arresting bookstore owners is the act of a regime terrified of knowledge. Targeting educators is a [war crime]. We demand the immediate release of Ahmad and Mahmoud Muna.”