Thursday, April 10, 2025, 11:56 Two reserve soldiers were detained ten days ago by the GSS and barred from meeting with an attorney for five days. Both of the soldiers are Yehuda and Shomron residents. In a statement to the media, Honenu Attorney Nati Rom revealed their harsh remand conditions: “They are currently in GSS dungeons, in two-meter high, two by two meter cells, with cockroaches and fleas. They do not know whether it is day or night.”
Following a determined legal battle waged by Honenu Attorneys Nati Rom and Moshe Poleski on their behalf, the detainees have been released to house arrest. The attorneys reacted to the release.
Attorney Poleski: “At every hearing we attended, we stated that there was no evidence justifying their detention or connecting them to the incident of which they were suspected. We expect the Jewish Department of the GSS to rethink their treatment of Jewish Yehuda and Shomron residents.”
Attorney Rom: “The interrogation methods that the GSS is using on brave combat soldiers are illegal. Imprisoning them in solitary confinement and banning them from meeting with an attorney for days were disproportionate measures. These remand conditions are a direct continuation of the persecution of Yehuda and Shomron residents by the Jewish Department of the GSS. I hope that the GSS will undertake a deep ‘stable cleaning.’ And I hope that the judges who are supposed to judicially review GSS decisions will fully realize that the GSS misrepresents incidents to them with the aim of violating the fundamental rights of Yehuda and Shomron residents against whom no evidence is presented.
“The detainees were detained without any evidence, only because of the persecution of Yehuda and Shomron residents by the Jewish Department of the GSS. I call on the judicial system to stop accepting requests from the GSS to hold unilateral hearings at which they misrepresent Jewish Yehuda and Shomron residents.”
In a related incident, during a GSS raid of the detainees’ homes, their wives were forced to undergo an invasive and humiliating search by female police officers under orders of GSS agents. Honenu Attorney Eladi Weisel wrote an urgent letter to the police demanding an investigation of the incident and the prosecution of those responsible. Additionally, the families turned to Knesset Member Limor Son Har-Melech, who supported and assisted the detainees’ wives.
Honenu Attorney Rom (center) with the released detainees and their wives;
Video credit: Honenu
In response to Attorney Weisel’s letter, the Israel Police wrote that the officers involved had been suspended from operational duties, and the Yehuda and Shomron District Commander ordered a thorough investigation of the incident: “Upon receiving the referenced complaint, the relevant authorities in the district began a thorough investigation of the incident cited in your complaint. Simultaneous to the investigation, and until its completion, it has been decided that all officers involved in the incident will not take part in operational activity. In any event, and irrespective of the results of the examination, the relevant regulations will be clarified in the framework of weekly classes, including upholding the right to privacy and human dignity while conducting searches, with emphasis on the importance of the necessary sensitivity with regard to various populations. Additionally, the extent of the officers’ authority during operational activities of this type will be clarified.”