Thuggery at the Educational Bookshop

I have been a patron of the Educational Bookshop since the 1990s, visiting whenever I am in Israel. The Muna family owns three bookstores—two on Salah ed-Din Street and one at the American Colony. One of their Salah ed-Din Street locations is both an Arabic bookstore and a stationery shop, selling Arabic newspapers, The Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, and the International Herald Tribune.

I have not only frequented this shop but have also purchased books from their café-bookshop across the street. I seek out books from their store both as academic source material and for the opportunity to engage with perspectives I may not agree with but find important to consider.

Despite claims of incitement, I have always found the Muna family members who run these shops to be warm, welcoming, and kind. During my visits to their Salah ed-Din Street locations, I have never found their businesses to be hubs or venues of incitement.

The Israeli police’s raid and trashing of their stores on Salah ed-Din Street is shameful. Their action exemplifies an Israeli aphorism: strong against the weak, weak against the strong. If Israeli authorities are truly concerned about Palestinian incitement, then why do they allow the Palestinian Authority to publish schoolbooks—used in Gaza and the West Bank—that promote jihad and martyrdom?