The midnight knock comes to West Dumbartonshire

24 May 2011: West Dumbartonshire , Scotland, County Council has enacted a law banning books printed or published in Israel.
Heinrich Heine "Where they burn books, so too will they in the end burn human beings." ("Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.")
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Picture a small cottage in West Dumbartonshire, some time in the summer of 2011. It is midnight and there is a fierce knocking on the door. Sarah, fearfully, in her dressing gown, peers through the window.

“Who is it?”

“Nothing to worry about , Madam, just a mere formal enquiry.”
She opens the door to the two policemen standing outside.

“Madam, I am Sergeant McTaggart and this is my assistant, Hamish McGivern. Would I be correct in assuming that this is a Jewish household?”

“Well, ...” Sarah is hesitant.

“No worries, Madam, but we have information that leads us to believe that you may be in possession of illegal material.”

“Illegal material? There is nothing of that nature here.” Sarah is nonplussed.

“Well, Madam, we have reason to believe that there may be Jewish books, or, more specifically books published in “ – here the Sergeant steels himself to pronounce the word –“Israel, in your possession. No? Perhaps a Hebrew Bible, or...whatever.” McTaggart is clearly not totally familiar with what is, after all, a new area of police enquiry.

“Well, we do have an old family bible from my grandparents, but we’re really not very Jewish...”

“No problem, Madame. Could we possibly have a look at this, er, family bible?”

“Certainly, sergeant”.

Sarah rummages in a cupboard, and comes up with a large dog-eared volume.

“Thank you, Madame.” McTaggart thumbs through the volume, initially in the wrong sense, and then happens on the flyleaf.

“I see that this book was published in Jerusalem. Would that be West Jerusalem or East Jerusalem, Madame?” McTaggart has clearly been through the police Forbidden Book Section’s orientation course.

Sarah is at a loss here. “We’re not all that Jewish, you know. I got it from my grandparents and...” Her voice drops off.

“I’m sorry, Madame, but we shall have to impound this volume. If it is found to contravene the Illegal Material (Books) Statute24052011 we shall, I very much regret, have to dispose of it in the specified manner. Now – do you have anything else you would like to show me. Let me advise you that you are already in contravention of the Statute and may be faced with serious penalties if you are found to be concealing any further illegal material. “

Sarah is now trembling nervously. “I’m sorry, I really didn’t know...”

“Madame, ignorance of the law is not a defence. Please, I insist, show me any other material of this nature that you have, otherwise Hamish here will return very shortly with a search warrant, and I can assure you that we will not miss anything.”

Sarah begins to weep. “My late father left an old Hebrew prayer book...I’ll get it from the loft.”
She returns and hands a rather dusty book to McTaggart, who looks at the latest find.

“Hmmm. I see that this was published in London, so it may be OK. But, just to be sure, we will take it along in any case. You don’t want any more trouble, Madame, do you?”
The policemen make to leave, when McTaggart spots a metal cylinder attached to the doorpost.

“Would this be what is termed a Mezzuzah, Madame?” He has really been an apt pupil at the banned books section training course.
Sarah looks through her tears. “I don’t really know. When my parents passed on they left me the house, and I didn’t want to remove it – I thought it was a good luck charm or something..”.

“That’s as may be – but as like as not this contains material which was made in - again McTaggart’s voice trembles slightly before pronouncing the accursed word – Israel. We shall have to take this away. Hamish, get the crowbar. Sorry we inconvenienced you, Madame, but really, I am afraid that you should have known better than to retain such material in your possession. I hope the magistrate will take a lenient view as this is probably a first offence. Good evening.”

And with that the policemen were gone.

But that is only the beginning......