Update: On the morning of Sunday, August 21, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court extended Yered’s remand by three days.
Thursday, August 19, 2022, 23:26 Today, at a hearing, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court rejected a request by the police to extend the remand of Elisha Yered by seven days and extended it by one day only. Honenu Attorney Moshe Poleski, who is representing Yered, described the circumstances of the incident for which he was detained: During a hike near the Judean Desert, Yered and his friends saw an abandoned building and entered it. After they had wandered around a bit, they realized that people were living in it, so they left. The court ruled that the likelihood of the motive for their acts being nationalistic was not great and that the acts in question are property violations.
Poleski appealed to the Jerusalem District Court to demand the release of Yered from remand. The hearing is scheduled for tomorrow (Friday) morning. In the appeal, Poleski states that because Yered is a hilltop youth, his investigation by the Central Unit of the Yehuda and Shomron Police raises a concern that he is being discriminated against and persecuted only because of his appearance and the sector to which he belongs.
Honenu Attorney Moshe Poleski stated, “During the remand hearing, it became clear that there was no cause for suspicion and no indication that this was a nationalistically motivated incident. A group of young friends took a trip to the Judean Desert region, saw an abandoned building that was in the middle of nowhere, entered it by accident, wandered around, and then left it when they realized that there could be people living in it. The incident was completely minor. The only reason that the detainee is still in remand is his identity as a hilltop youth named Elisha Yered. Any other citizen in the country would have been released from the police station with a cup of coffee, and it is doubtful that an indictment would have been filed.”