Leafing through books on Sunday, February 9, Israeli police officers methodically threw them into garbage bags brought in for the raid at the Palestinian bookshop Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem. They operated under the gaze of one of the owners, Mahmoud Muna, his face buried in his scarf, on this cold winter afternoon. Just across the street, a stationery shop belonging to the same company was also raided, and many items were thrown to the ground. Muna, 41, and his nephew, Ahmed, 33, were both arrested.

The authorities reviewed numerous books, such as those by street artist Banksy, or volumes by academics Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappé. Using the translators on their phones, the police took a close look at books written in Arabic. In particular, they seized a children's coloring book titled in English From the River to the Sea.

This pro-Palestinian slogan is defended by some as a demand for an end to discrimination against Palestinians living in Israel or the occupied territories, but denounced by many Israelis as a call for the total destruction of Israel. This is the meaning of the message posted on the X account of the Israeli police, with a photo of the book, indicating that they had arrested "two individuals suspected of selling books containing incitement and support for terrorism."

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