Israel arrests 2 Jerusalemite booksellers, confiscates books

Palestinian bookstore owners in Jerusalem Mahmoud Muna and his nephew Ahmad Muna were detained by Israel yesterday.

The owners and booksellers of Jerusalem’s Educational Bookshop, Mahmoud and Ahmad were accosted by undercover Israeli police in the bookshop around 3pm. They were handcuffed and taken away, while the bookshop was ransacked and many publications were confiscated.

“They used Google Translate on the books, and anything they didn’t like, they took,” said Murad Muna, Mahmoud’s brother. “They even found a Haaretz newspaper with a picture of the hostages and asked what it was, saying it was incitement. They took every book with a Palestinian flag on it.”

The charge against Mahmoud and Ahmad was initially “inciting and supporting terrorism”. Attorney Nasser Odeh, who represents the booksellers, said that they were told the charge had changed to “disturbing the public order” during the course of their interrogation.

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As we continue to learn details about the arrest of Mahmoud Muna in jerusalem tonight. Here are some photos from the scene. The one on the left is the books they confiscated, the one on the right how they left the bookstore. pic.twitter.com/2jpbeoLzBz

— George Zeidan جورج زيدان (@gjzeidan) February 9, 2025

“To open an incitement investigation, the police need approval from the public prosecution. It seems they realised they had no chance of getting that approval, so they switched the charge to the more generic ‘disturbing public order’ offense. I have never encountered a case where someone is held in custody overnight for suspicion of disturbing public order,” said Odeh.

Mahmoud Muna and Sam Fisher, pictured in Burley Fisher Books. London, 2024.

According to a statement issued by Saqi Books publishing house, “after a hearing this morning, their detention has been extended for another 24 hours. Mahmoud and Ahmad will then be placed under house arrest for seven days, according to reports.”

The Educational Bookshop was founded by Mahmoud’s father, Ahmad Muna, in 1984, and specialises in Arabic and English language books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the history of Jerusalem. All books sold in the bookshop are imported into Israel, mostly via Ashdod port, and pass inspection by Israeli authorities.

“The arrests of Mahmoud and Ahmad is a stark reminder of the ongoing campaign to stifle free speech and information that challenges Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Freedom of expression is a cornerstone of all just societies. There is no genuine security without the freedom to read, and no freedom to read without booksellers being able to carry out their work safely and freely,” Saqi Books said.

Lynn Gaspard, publisher of Saqi Books, said: “It is a grim moment for culture and freedom when people are arrested for selling books and their books are sieved. The parallels are obvious and horrible.”