Eliya Ben-David; Photo credit: Ya’ir ֹUriel
Wednesday, February 12, 2020, 13:34 Extremely stringent conditions were imposed on Eliya Ben-David, a 19-year-old resident of Nof HaGalil, despite the announcement from Defense Minister Naftali Bennett that the administrative detention order would be reduced to a distancing order from Yehuda and Shomron only.
In addition to the distancing order, administrative surveillance has been imposed on Ben-David. The surveillance includes house arrest at night, which forces Ben-David to stay at his parents house from 23:00 until 6:00, every night, for half a year. He is forbidden to speak to 28 of his friends and he must report every day to the Nof HaGalil Police Station.
Honenu Attorney Menashe Yado censured the conduct of the GSS and the Defense Minister concerning the treatment of Ben-David, in light of the fact that the court ordered his unconditional release. Yado described the situation as a security-related legal farce, for which there is no precedent in the State of Israel.
Concerning the Defense Minister’s signature on the administrative detention order, Yado said that, “This act is in sharp opposition to the law and has already drawn severe criticism from the court. Additionally the Minister violated the law when he signed on the order without recognizing the right of the detainee to a hearing. What is most serious is that this is the first time in the history of the State of Israel that an administration detention order has been issued to an individual suspected of throwing a rock. The charge, serious as it may be, is in no way grounds for administrative detention. The Minister used the most severe means when there was neither a basis nor justification for it.”
Yado emphasized that the administrative detention order is baseless, and that clear proof is that “the alternative order does not impose complete house arrest on the detainee, but rather only partial. This indicates that the danger posed by the detainee, even according to the security authorities, is significantly more limited and moderate than that which justifies a detention order. [This conduct] creates a genuine threat to the feeling of security of citizens in general, and of right-wing activists in particular, who are liable to be detained without a trial.”
To recap, on Sunday, February 2, Ben-David was detained by the GSS and since then has been forbidden to meet with an attorney. Defense Minister Naftali Bennett signed on the administrative detention order several minutes after the Central District Court in Lod ordered his unconditional release on Monday, February 10. The GSS detained him at the courthouse and later he was taken to the wing designated for religious prisoners in the Ayalon Prison. The following day (Tuesday) Minister Bennett cancelled the order, replacing it with an order distancing Ben-David from Yehuda and Shomron, and placing him under administrative surveillance.