LONDON: Israeli police have raided a prominent Palestinian bookstore in East Jerusalem for the second time in a month, seizing dozens of books and arresting one of the owners.
Local reports said 61-year-old co-owner Imad Muna was detained for several hours after Israeli officers arrived at the Educational Bookshop on Tuesday morning without a warrant. During the raid, they confiscated about 50 books after searching the stock using Google Translate.
“At 11:15 a.m., the police arrived at the store, and my parents were there at the time,” Muna’s son, Ahmad, said. “The police asked for the business licenses and reviewed the account books. I arrived, but they wouldn’t let me in. They went through the books, stacked a pile of books that they took.”
In February, police arrested Ahmad and Muna’s brother, Mahmoud, holding them for several days without the State Attorney’s office approval to launch an investigation. They were later placed under house arrest for five days but have not been charged.
During the first raid, police cited a children’s coloring book as evidence of incitement to terrorism.
Similar to the latest incident, authorities confiscated books based on titles, appearance, and authors, including works by British artist Banksy, Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, and US academic Noam Chomsky. Books containing visual elements associated with Palestine were also seized.
“They chose books by the cover, taking books that had a Palestinian flag, or just the word Palestine in the title,” another one of Muna’s brothers, Morad, said. “They were using Google Translate and took photos to send to their bosses.”
Police said the second raid followed a complaint from a man who visited the bookstore earlier that day, claiming to have seen books containing inciting content. Officers detained Muna “to verify his identity and details of the store,” police said, adding that they are reviewing three books seized during the operation.
“Based on the findings, a determination will be made on whether to refer the matter to the State Attorney’s office for further investigation into the suspected sale of inciting materials,” the statement said.
After Muna was released on Tuesday afternoon, most of the books were returned and the shop reopened.
However, the bookstore’s owners said the raids are part of an escalating effort by Israeli authorities to suppress Palestinian culture and should not be seen as isolated incidents.
Rights groups and intellectuals condemned the first raid as an attempt to create a “culture of fear” among Palestinians and an attack on freedom of expression.
