The police said the stores were selling books that supported terrorism and that two members of the family who owned the business had been arrested. A lawyer said their detention was “political” rather than legal.

An Israeli police raid on a well-known chain of Palestinian bookshops in occupied East Jerusalem and the detention of their owners has shocked many people in the city's cultural, journalistic and diplomatic communities, who have described it as heavy handed and unjustified.

A representative of Ireland’s Embassy in Tel Aviv was among a diplomatic presence from at least nine countries attending the booksellers’ court hearing on Monday. A post on the Embassy’s X page called the raid and arrests “an attack on freedom of expression and fundamental democratic values”.

Israeli authorities are cracking down on what they see as incitement.