Jerusalem bookstores selling anti-Israel, BDS titles

Israeli police arrested the owners of three Arab bookshops in Jerusalem in February for allegedly selling books containing anti-Israel incitement and support for terrorism.

The owners of the two branches of the Educational Bookshop—across from each other on Salah Eddin Street on the eastern side of the city—were detained, and their stores were temporarily closed for selling incitement-laced materials.

Police again briefly closed the store on March 11.

A week earlier, the Arab owner of a bookshop in Jerusalem’s Old City was detained on suspicion of selling works by slain senior Hezbollah and Hamas heads Hassan Nasrallah and Yahya Sinwar, respectively. That store remains shuttered.

The Gateway

At the same time, a recent patron (who insisted on remaining anonymous) of Jerusalem’s The Gateway cafe, wineshop and bookstore, located just inside the Old City’s New Gate, in the Christian Quarter, showed JNS a photo of Omar Barghouti’s book “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS): The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights,” which he recently purchased at the shop.

Barghouti is the co-founder of the BDS movement and a key leader in the Ramallah-based BNC (BDS National Committee). In a 2013 video titled “Strategies of Change,” Barghouti told an audience, “Most definitely, we oppose a Jeish state in any part of Palestine. No Palestinian—rational Palestinian, not a sell-out Palestinian—will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”

According to Israeli law, selling books promoting BDS isn’t criminal, but based on the 2011 “Anti-Boycott Law” (full name the Law for Prevention of Damage to State of Israel through Boycott), promoting BDS gives rise to a civil tort, as a party can claim it might be damaged by such a boycott, and so file a civil suit.

In addition to the BDS book, photos from The Gateway’s Facebook page reveal that the shop also has (or had) copies of questionable books on its shelves, including an English translation of “Palestine’s Children,” a novel written by the former spokesperson for the PFLP terrorist organization, Ghassan Kanafani.

Kanafani was assassinated by Israel in 1972 in Beirut for his role in that year’s Lod Airport Massacre, in which 26 people were murdered.

The Facebook page also shows that the store has offered copies of a book on the Arab-Israeli conflict by Raja Shehadeh called “Where the Line is Drawn.” According to NGO Monitor, Shehadeh is the founder of the Al-Haq “human-rights organization,” which Israel designated a terrorist entity in 2021 for its ties to the PFLP.

The Gateway’s Facebook page features photos containing many other titles in English written by activists affiliated with extremist anti-Israel organizations.

Chaim Silberstein, founder and chairman of the Jerusalem Centre for Applied Policy (JCAP), told JNS his organization has been monitoring elements affecting the status of Jerusalem, including what’s being sold in bookstores, and sharing the information with relevant authorities.

“As part of our commitment to responsible discourse and balanced policy, we observe growing public concern regarding certain activities that may undermine the rule of law and the fabric of life in the city,” he said.

Silberstein added that his organization recognized the importance of the Israeli government and relevant authorities taking thoughtful and responsible action to safeguard sovereignty, security and order in Jerusalem.

“Such measures are essential to creating a safe and open environment—one in which moderate voices and advocates of coexistence can operate freely, engage with state institutions, and foster trust and cooperation among all populations in the city,” he said.

“Promoting initiatives such as BDS is incompatible with the values of good neighbourliness, coexistence and peace. This approach distances the possibility of genuine dialogue and the building of a shared future in Jerusalem,” said Silberstein.

Tony Sabella, who identifies as a “Palestinian from Jerusalem” and owns The Gateway, told JNS he has several English-language books in his shop on BDS and has no problem promoting the movement.

“BDS is one of the nonviolent ways we can resist the occupation and a very peaceful way for demonstrating against the oppression,” he said.

Two days after the police shut down the Educational Bookshop branches, they paid his store a visit, Sabella said. After asking questions, the police took pictures of some of his books and told him they would return, but they have yet to come back, he said.

Sabella explained that since most of his clientele are foreigners, he imports his books from abroad in the English language. He insisted that his books have gone through Israeli customs and are not under any type of ban. “If a book is banned, I would take it off the shelf,” he said.

When asked about the fact that author Ghassan Kanafani was assassinated by Israel for his role in terrorism, Sabella claimed that “Kanafani’s book,” which he sells, “doesn’t promote violence.” Israel simply “wants to ban everything,” he insisted.

Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Arieh King told JNS he was familiar with The Gateway, and that the State of Israel should crack down on those spreading propaganda materials “that border on antisemitic sentiment and, of course, anti-Israeli sentiment.”

“Anyone who acts against the state, whether in a bookstore, whether at a university, whether at cultural performances, should have his activity prohibited by law,” he said.

“If it doesn’t suit him [the owner] to live and work and make money in the Jewish state, he is welcome to leave the Jewish state and work elsewhere,” King said.

Ran Ishay, head of research for JCAP and a former Israeli ambassador to Kazakhstan, expressed a similar sentiment and told JNS that Israel must act now against those spreading BDS and incitement.

“The time for different individuals to spread their poison against Israel freely, in the center of its capital, with Israel turning a blind eye to the scandalous phenomenon, must come to an end,” he said.

“Gone are the days of mocking Israeli law under the transparent cover of ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘international sensitivities.’ Whomever does such a thing, whether an Israeli citizen, resident, or a foreigner, must be addressed and sanctioned in accordance with the law,” Ishay said.

A request for comment from the Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit went unanswered by press time.