Wednesday, December 4, 2024, 8:16 This morning (Wednesday), Army Radio reporter Yuval Segev announced that Defense Minister Yisrael Katz had canceled an administrative detention order that was served to a Shomron resident, Itiel Ben Tzuria, by former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. This is the first administrative order that Minister Katz has canceled. With the release of Ben Tzuria, the number of Jewish administrative detainees, some of whom are married and have children, stands at seven. A hearing is scheduled to take place for four of the detainees at the Central District Court in Lod this afternoon.
Ben Tzuria’s original order was issued for six months and was due to expire on March 14, 2025. With Minister Katz’s cancelation, he is expected to be released in January, or possibly earlier. According to the report, Minister Katz is using his legal authority and ordered the cancelation of the order two weeks ago. Concurrent with the administrative detention, Ben Tzuria is serving a community service sentence, which in light of the administrative order was commuted to community service in prison. However, the community service term is shorter than the administrative detention sentence. As a result of Minister Katz’s decision, Ben Tzuria’s remand will be shortened by at least two months.
Additionally, one week ago, Defense Minister Yisrael Katz announced that he would not sign new administrative detention orders for Jewish Yehuda and Shomron residents. Dozens of government ministers, Knesset members, council heads, Likud figures, and heads of right-wing organizations issued statements in support of Minister Katz, among them Ministers Yariv Levin, Aryeh Deri, Shlomo Karhi, Betzalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben Gvir, Gila Gamliel, Yitzhak Wasserlauf, Orit Struk, Idit Silman, May Golan, and Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu.
Yesterday, Honenu shared data received from the Prison Service revealing a sharp rise in the number of administrative orders served to Jewish residents of Yehuda and Shomron during Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s term. In 2018, 2019, and 2021, there were no Jewish administrative detainees. In 2020 there was only one, and in 2022, there were three Jewish administrative detainees. After Minister Gallant took office in 2023, 16 administrative orders were served to Jews that year. In 2024, as of December 3, 18 administrative orders were served to Jews.
This table shows the number of Jewish Israeli administrative detainees in the custody of the Prison Service by year over the past 7 years:
Honenu Director Shmuel (Zangi) Meidad is calling on Defense Minister Yisrael Katz to end the persecution: “The Jewish residents of Yehuda and Shomron are not the enemy. The security forces should direct their efforts toward Israel’s enemies who repeatedly attack Israeli citizens. We call on Minister Katz to immediately release all of the Jewish administrative detainees from Israeli prisons.”