Jerusalem’s Educational Bookshop Emergency Appeal

Bookselling is not a crime: fundraiser to support the Educational Bookshop

The Educational Bookshop is a family-run, independent chain of three bookshops. Since first opening its doors forty years ago, the bookshop has survived occupation, two intifadas and a pandemic. Despite it all, they have been able to keep their doors open and are well-known to researchers, diplomats, journalists and tourists. But the challenges of the past few days have been unprecedented.

Please help us raise funds to support the Educational Bookshop. We would hugely appreciate any support you are able to give at this time. Funds will go towards:

• replacing the books that were seized during the arrest

• fixing material damages done to the bookshop

• payment to interim booksellers until Mahmoud and Ahmad are allowed to return to work (one of the terms of their release is that they can not return to bookselling for a minimum of 20 days)

Alternatively, come by the Educational Bookshop and buy a book. That would be even better. Everyone is welcome.

At 3pm on 9 February 2025, booksellers Mahmoud and Ahmad Muna were accosted by undercover Israeli police. They were arrested at the Educational Bookshop, handcuffed and taken to prison. Over 250 books were confiscated, some of them have since been returned. Two days later, on 11 February, Mahmoud and his nephew Ahmad were released under house arrest.

The charge against Mahmoud and Ahmad was initially ‘inciting and supporting terrorism’. The charge changed to ‘disturbing the public order’ during the course of their interrogation. ‘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” offence. I have never encountered a case where someone is held in custody overnight for suspicion of disturbing public order,’ said Attorney Nasser Odeh, who represents the booksellers. Their detention was later extended for 24 hours.

‘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.’

Booksellers are not criminals and the nature of these arrests is terrifying. 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.

The Educational Bookshop was founded by Mahmoud’s father, Ahmad Muna, in 1984. The bookshop flagship is located on Salah Eldin Street. The bookshop specialises in Arabic and English language books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the history of Jerusalem. The books sold in the bookshop are published by world-renowned publishing houses and international research institutions.

Mahmoud also manages various cultural initiatives across Palestine and published the first Arabic edition of Granta magazine.

Ahmad has been a bookseller at the Educational Bookshop for more than a decade and represents the third generation of booksellers within the distinguished Muna family.

What other people say about Mahmoud, Ahmad & The Educational Bookshop

‘Mahmoud Muna’s wonderful bookshop [is] the best in Jerusalem ... [he] is a wonderful, wise and learned guy and has encouraged generations of travellers to read more deeply into the contested history of Jerusalem.’ William Dalrymple, writer

‘I am proud to call Mahmoud and Ahmad friends. Both have been a source of strength and professional support to me, and Mahmoud and I have worked together, travelled together and shared a stage together before public audiences over many years. I have nothing but respect and admiration for the work they do in preserving, promoting and championing Palestinian literary culture in Jerusalem.’ Matthew Teller, writer

‘Another brilliant Muna family member, educated in one of the top universities who could have easily stayed abroad, yet decided to return to create positive change in his homeland.’ Dominika Blachnicka-Ciacek

‘I was at university with Mahmoud and I know him to be a thoughtful and generous reader, a man who cares passionately about freedom of speech and literature. His bookshops are a beacon of freedom in a bleak environment. It is a grim moment for culture and freedom when people are arrested for selling books and their books are seized. The parallels are obvious and horrible.’ Lynn Gaspard, Publisher, Saqi Books

‘I know Mahmoud well and admire him greatly. Bookselling is never an easy profession and it’s really challenging under occupation. Mahmoud’s shops are a haven of ideas, stories and imagination in a bleak place. He’s a quiet hero.’ Andrew Franklin, Founder, Profile Books and trustee of Index on Censorship