Israeli book store cancels sale of ‘Charlie Hebdo’ after receiving threats

The head of the southern Islamic Movement’s United Arab List, Masud Ghnaim, warned in a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the book store’s action is “very dangerous.”

JPOST

Israel’s Steimatzky book store canceled the sale of the Charlie Hebdo French magazine after Arab objection.

“Steimatzky decisively supports freedom of expression. The company has sold the magazine for years and will continue to do so. However, the chain has decided the sale of this issue will not occur at a special event in our store, but be held online starting Monday at 5 pm,” reported Ma’ariv, The Jerusalem Post’s Hebrew-language sister publication.

The head of the southern Islamic Movement’s United Arab List, Masud Ghnaim, warned in a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the book store’s action is “very dangerous.”

“The Steimatzky chain intends to distribute in two days thousands of copies from the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo that includes images which hurts the Islamic religion,” said Ghnaim according to Channel 2.

“This is a very serious, dangerous, and stupid step. This is not freedom of expression but a hard hit on the holiest of holies to Muslims that will bring about unrest and great anger among the Arabs and Muslims in the country and in the whole world, and no one can predict the results.”

Ghnaim appealed to Netanyahu to personally intervene and stop the distribution of the newspaper.

This comes three weeks after Islamist gunmen shot dead 12 people in the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, which has repeatedly featured cartoons of Mohammad.

Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians rallied in the West Bank on Saturday to protest against the publication of cartoons depicting Mohammad in the French satirical weekly.

Simultaneous demonstrations were held in the cities of Ramallah and Hebron.

“France is the mother of terrorism. America is the mother of terrorism,” the protesters chanted.

The protests were called by the Islamist Tahrir Party, which advocates the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate in Muslim countries.