Thursday, November 5, 2026, 8:26 In August 2026, the Yehuda and Shomron District Police arrested a Jewish resident of Emmanuel and interrogated him on suspicion of assaulting a public servant and making threats. At the subsequent hearing on the extension of his detention, it emerged that there were no suspicions against him and no evidence linking him to the alleged acts. The police had arrested him even though a judge had already rejected their request for an arrest warrant. It further became clear during the hearing that the suspicions concerned a different person who was present in the same courtroom.

Honenu Attorney Nati Rom, representing the resident, asked the court to order his unconditional release and to require the police to pay costs for the wrongful arrest. Judge Ronen Peleg of the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court agreed. He ruled that the arrest was illegal, ordered the resident’s immediate release, and required the police to pay 2,000 NIS in court costs and 3,500 NIS in attorney’s fees (a total of 5,500 NIS).

The police appealed the decision to the District Court. At the appeal hearing on November 3, 2026, however, their representatives did not appear. District Court Judge Ron Sulkin waited more than half an hour and then dismissed the appeal, noting that the resident had been arrested despite the earlier rejection of the arrest request. The police must now respond within seven days and are expected to face additional costs for failing to attend the appeal hearing.

Attorney Rom commented: “The court’s unusual decision to impose costs on the police in a detention case is the direct result of their outrageous conduct. Arresting someone without reasonable suspicion—and after a court had already refused to issue a warrant—is a blatant violation of the law and shows deep disregard for human rights. Instead of learning from the court’s scathing criticism, the police wasted public resources on a baseless appeal that was rightly dismissed.”