Letter informing Yered of case closing
Monday, January 15, 2024, 9:30 Approximately one month ago, Yehuda and Shomron activist Elisha Yered was detained in the Jordan Valley by Yehuda and Shomron Police detectives. The detectives claimed that Yered was violating the administrative restraining order that the GOC of the Central Command, Major-General Yehuda Fuchs, issued against him. The order bans him from entering Yehuda and Shomron for six months, including his home in the Binyamin region. The detectives refused to explain why they were detaining Yered and informed him that he was detained for 24 hours. Yered was released a day later at the Jerusalem Magistrates Court. At the end of last week, Yered received a letter from the Yehuda and Shomron District Attorney’s office informing him that the case against him had been closed on December 20, 2023 – only ten days after he was detained. For three weeks, the District Attorney’s office delayed informing Yered that the case was closed.
The saga did not end with the false detention. The hearing on the appeal filed by Major-General Yehuda Fuchs on the military court decision to shorten the duration of Yered’s administrative order by two months took place on December 24, four days after the case was closed. The Central Command claimed that the reduction should be canceled because Yered was violating the restrictions imposed on him. The “proof” that the Central Command brought was none other than the above-mentioned false detention on which the criminal case was opened and which was closed four days before the hearing.
Yered and Honenu Attorney Keidar who was representing him had not yet been informed that the case was closed and were therefore unable to refute the false accusation. The judge decided to accept Maj.-Gen. Fuch’s appeal and cited among her reasons the violation that had not actually occurred.
Elisha Yered responded to the case closing: “Closing the case proves again that the detention was part of the political and personal persecution that Major-General Fuchs is waging against Yehuda and Shomron activists and right-wing figures who dare to criticize his criminal policies. Unfortunately, it seems that even after the horrific massacre [October 7] Fuchs is continuing his persecution campaign against pioneers on farms and hilltops in Yehuda and Shomron with even greater enthusiasm. His goal is to block their activities and abandon areas in favor of founding a Palestinian state. In light of the bloody events that have beset the country, we deserve genuine commanders who will lead us to victory and defeat of the enemy, not left-wing activists in uniform”
Honenu Attorney Nati Rom, who represented Elisha Yered in the detention case, stated, “Criminal proceedings were illegally and inexplicably used for an administrative matter. The Yehuda and Shomron Police turned to the court while misleading the judge and requested a detention warrant for a puzzling offense that the suspect had not committed. The judge was not even aware that the true story behind the one-sided request for the detention was preparation for an administrative order, no genuine criminal investigation had been carried out, and for the most part, the suspect was not brought to court hearings. In the end, the entire purpose of the investigation was to pad the case [with fabricated evidence] and defame my client before serving him with an administrative order.”
In October 2023, Major-General Fuchs served Yered with an administrative restraining order banning him from his home in the Binyamin region for six months. Honenu appealed the order on behalf of Yered to the military court, which reduced the duration of the order by half. Maj.-General Fuchs appealed the decision to the District Court, which, partially based on a supposed violation of the order that had not occurred, overturned the military court’s decision. The administrative order was left standing until April 2024.