Sunday, December 4, 2022, 16:31 Two Shomron residents, Elhai Carmeli and Avraham Yered, are in administrative detention by order of Defense Minister Benny Gantz. Both of them are being held under extremely harsh conditions, in solitary, and in dark, window-less cells. They are not able to phone either their families or their attorneys. Last night (after Shabbat), dozens of their friends protested opposite the Russian Compound in Jerusalem where Carmeli is being held. The protesters called for the immediate release of the detainees and the end of administrative orders.
Approximately one month ago, Carmeli, a married father of one, was detained. The following day, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court rejected a request by the Yehuda and Shomron Police to detain him for four days and extended his remand by 24 hours only. In response, minutes after the hearing, Defense Minister Gantz signed a four-month administrative detention order.
Several days ago, Avraham Yered was given an administrative detention order. Yered was detained last week, and the police requested a lengthy remand extension. However, the court extended his remand by only two days and intimated that he would be released soon. DM Gantz decided to bypass the court and served Yered with an administrative detention order.
Yered’s parents reacted to the order and stated, “We were shocked and deeply saddened to receive the announcement of the administrative order that our son received without a trial and without any possibility to defend himself against it. They [the police] falsely accused him. The judge in court said that there was no basis for the accusations and that he was supposed to be released. And then in the way of dark regimes, they brought an order signed by Defense Minister Gantz and put him in prison for four months. As far as we are concerned, that is cynical, political use of tools that are supposed to protect our security and political use of them against settlers. We expect the new government to cancel the order, stop the use [of administrative orders], and the persecution of Yehuda and Shomron residents.”
Honenu: “DM Gantz is in an end-of-course mood, not showing restraint, and engaging in petty politics at the expense of youths. It is an embarrassment that administrative orders have turned into a political taunting tool for cynical use in the hands of politicians. Not only have many young men been harmed by administrative orders, but the State of Israel, the courts that are bypassed, and democracy itself are suffering.”