Israeli police raid 2 bookstores in East Jerusalem, arrest owners

JERUSALEM

Israeli police raided two Palestinian bookstores in occupied East Jerusalem on Monday and arrested their owners on charges of "disturbing public order."

According to Haaretz, police confiscated several books from the stores and detained the owners on suspicion that “the books sold there constituted incitement."

Police later changed the charge from “incitement to violence” to “disturbing public order,” the daily said.

The Israeli newspaper, citing the bookstore owners, said police “used Google Translate on the books, and they confiscated anything they didn't like.”

A defense lawyer for the owners told Haaretz that he “had never encountered a case where someone is held in custody overnight for suspicion of disturbing public order."

A Jerusalem Magistrate's Court judge had issued a search warrant for the bookstores at the request of the Israeli police. However, when police failed to find any evidence of incitement, they changed the charge against the bookstore owners to “disturbing public order.”

Despite the lack of evidence, police decided to keep the bookstore owners in custody overnight and bring them before a court for a detention extension hearing.

Tensions has been running high across the occupied West Bank, where at least 910 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 others injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Health Ministry.