Israel released Mahmoud (pictured) and Ahmad Muna following international outcry [Getty]
Almost 400 MPs, writers, journalists and activists have signed a letter to the British foreign secretary demanding he press Israeli authorities to drop the charges against the Palestinian owners of a renowned bookshop who were detained earlier this week.
Israeli police triggered outrage on Monday after they raided the premises of the Educational Bookshop, arrested owners Mahmoud and Ahmad Muna and confiscated dozens of books.
Israeli authorities initially accused the Munas of “inciting and supporting terrorism” but now allege they are guilty of “disturbing the public order”.
Both men were released on Tuesday following a global outcry.
“We are outraged at the raid by Israeli forces on the Educational Bookshop in Jerusalem and the arrests of Mahmoud and Ahmad Muna,” the letter reads.
“We call on the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs David Lammy, the British government and other states and international organisations to pressure the Israeli government to immediately drop the charges against Mahmoud and Ahmad Muna, rescind the attacks on the Educational Bookshop, and end their attacks on the Palestinian people and culture.
“Selling books is not a crime.”
Among the signatories were MPs Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, authors Susan Abulhawa and Ahdaf Soueif, and journalist Owen Jones.
Historian William Dalrymple, deputy leader of the Green Party Zack Polanski, and author Michael Rosen also added their names to the letter, which was coordinated by the Stop the War Coalition.
The arrests show that “there are very few places that are free or safe from Israel’s onslaught,” Joseph Willits, head of parliamentary affairs at the Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu), told The New Arab.
“The images of two handcuffed booksellers are a powerful example both of what Israel is, and a stark reminder of its continued brutality against Palestinians and attempts to shut down and erase,” said Willits, one of the signatories to the letter.
“With ever-increasing impunity, we will only witness the continuation of such acts.”
The family-owned bookshop is well-known in Jerusalem and sells a range of Arabic and English language titles. It’s known for selling leftist and anti-colonial texts critical of the Israeli occupation and supportive of the Palestinian cause.
“They used Google Translate on the books, and anything they didn’t like, they took,” Mourad Muna, Mahmoud’s brother, said following the raid.
“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.”
Husam Zomlot, Palestinian ambassador to the UK, condemned the arrests as a “campaign to censor knowledge”.
“Freedom of expression is a cornerstone of all just societies. There is no genuine peace without the freedom to read, and no freedom to read without booksellers able to carry out their work in safety,” he wrote on social media platform X.
