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Israeli police raided two branches of East Jerusalem’s Educational Bookshop on Sunday and detained its owners, prompting outrage among Palestinian and Israeli intellectuals and adding to fears that Israel is cracking down on freedom of expression.
A police statement originally said officers arrested Mahmoud Muna and Ahmad Muna on charges of “selling books containing incitement and support for terrorism”, but then changed the charges to suspicion of disturbing public order. Police requested an eight-day extension of their detention on Monday, with a judge eventually ordering the pair be held for an extra day.
Specialising in English and Arabic titles relating to the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Educational Bookshop chain is one of the most well-known bookshops in the Holy Land and an intellectual centre frequented by tourists, journalists, activists and diplomats.
Police combed through books, confiscating dozens in a raid on Sunday. They said: “Detectives encountered numerous books containing inciteful material with nationalist Palestinian themes, including a children's colouring book titled From the River to the Sea."
Pictures circulated by an Israeli journalist of one of the shops after the police raid showed dozens of books strewn across the floor.
The pair’s lawyer, Nasser Odeh, said the arrest was “illegal” and “part of the political suppression against people in East Jerusalem”. He added that after the extra day of detention, both would be released under house arrest for five days and banned from entering their shops for 15 days.
Israel has long faced accusations that it suppresses critical material but critics say the problem has become far worse since the Gaza war broke out in October 2023. Since then, professors have been arrested and people hounded out of workplaces for expressing solidarity with Palestinians.
A small crowd of Palestinian and Israeli demonstrators gathered in support of the pair on Monday morning, as both appeared in Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court. Inside, representatives from Belgium, Brazil, the EU, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, as well as numerous international journalists, gathered to attend proceedings.
Nathan Thrall, author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on the conflict, told The National outside the court that the arrest was an “outrage”.
“It sends a chilling message to all Palestinians in Jerusalem because these are two of the most well-connected people, people who you would think would be the most immune from this sort of abuse,” he said.
Steffen Seibert, German ambassador to Israel, said he was “concerned to hear of the raid”.
“I, like many diplomats, enjoy browsing for books at Educational Bookshop. I know its owners, the Muna family, to be peace-loving proud Palestinian Jerusalemites, open for discussion and intellectual exchange,” Mr Seibert said in a post on X.
Palestinian professor Dalal Saeb Iriqat described the arrests as “a war on knowledge and truth”.
“Israel is systematically silencing educators, journalists and intellectuals – those who empower society through learning and free thought,” Prof Iriqat wrote on Facebook. “Arresting bookstore owners is the act of a regime terrified of knowledge. Targeting educators is a [war crime]. We demand the immediate release of Ahmad and Mahmoud Muna.”
RESULTS: 2018 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING - EUROPE
Albania 0 Italy 1
Finland 2 Turkey 2
Macedonia 4 Liechtenstein
Iceland 2 Kosovo 0
Israel 0 Spain 1
Moldova 0 Austria 1
Serbia 1 Georgia 0
Ukraine 0 Croatia 2
Wales 0 Ireland 1
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'Manmarziyaan' (Colour Yellow Productions, Phantom Films)
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal
Rating: 3.5/5
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
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The biog
Favourite hobby: I love to sing but I don’t get to sing as much nowadays sadly.
Favourite book: Anything by Sidney Sheldon.
Favourite movie: The Exorcist 2. It is a big thing in our family to sit around together and watch horror movies, I love watching them.
Favourite holiday destination: The favourite place I have been to is Florence, it is a beautiful city. My dream though has always been to visit Cyprus, I really want to go there.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela
Edited by Sahm Venter
Published by Liveright
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
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- 600-seat auditorium
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- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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ATP China Open
G Dimitrov (BUL x3) bt R Bautista Agut (ESP x5)
7-6, 4-6, 6-2
R Nadal (ESP x1) bt J Isner (USA x6)
6-4, 7-6
WTA China Open
S Halep (ROU x2) bt D Kasatkina (RUS)
6-2, 6-1
J Ostapenko (LAT x9) bt S Cirstea (ROU)
6-4, 6-4
ATP Japan Open
D Schwartzman (ARG x8) bt S Johnson (USA)
6-0, 7-5
D Goffin (BEL x4) bt R Gasquet (FRA)
7-5, 6-2
M Cilic (CRO x1) bt R Harrison (USA)
6-2, 6-0
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
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Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
