For a partial list of cases in which Honenu has represented Neriya Zarog, please see here.
Wednesday, September 6, 2023, 10:25 In early August, several days after his administrative restraining order expired, right-wing activist Neriya Zarog was served with a similar order banning him from the Yehuda and Shomron regions for four months. Three weeks ago, a legal objection was submitted by Honenu Attorney Adi Keidar on behalf of Zarog to GOC of the Central Command Major-General Yehuda Fuchs of the Central Command. It was rejected. In light of the rejection, Honenu Attorney Nati Rom appealed to the Military Court in Ofer to cancel the order.
In the appeal, Attorney Rom described how Zarog and his family have been suffering because of the order: “The appellee, a young man 24 years of age, is a married father of four young children, the eldest of whom is six and is now starting first grade. On July 30, 2023, an administrative order banning the appellee from the Yehuda and Shomron regions other than his parents’ home in Kochav Ya’akov expired. For the duration of the previous order, the appellee lived in a tiny apartment in Jerusalem which they rented thanks to the generosity of the owners who had mercy on the appellee and his family, who were shockingly forced to wander from place to place. When the order expired, only one month before the start of the school year, the family was headed for Yitzhar, where they intended to live after the upheaval [caused by being banned from Yehuda and Shomron].”
Attorney Rom gave an example of the persecution by the security system: “On August 6, the Zarogs attended an introductory meeting with Yitzhar’s acceptance committee. Yehuda and Shomron Police officers burst into a meeting room in the secretariat building. In front of everyone present, they arrogantly read the announcement of the respondent’s intent to serve another administrative restrictive order to the appellee. The brutal conduct made waves in the media. In response, that same evening, Yitzhar publically announced that in reaction to the heavy-handed conduct, following an accelerated process, the Zarog family was accepted for residency in the community.” Note that Zarog’s request to hear the announcement in another room was refused.”
Attorney Rom emphasized in the appeal that because Zarog had been banned from Yehuda and Shomron during the past few months, he does not pose any danger and therefore the current order should be canceled. Zarog and his family should be allowed to live normal lives: “The appellee has stated that he is not involved with any violent or criminal activities, and therefore the order is completely unjustified. The appellee’s children have started the school year in Yitzhar, and the situation [caused by the order] is extremely difficult for the family. During the previous order, the family was living in an area far from their natural setting, which has caused great psychological damage to the young children. Therefore, the appellee’s wife and children will not be able to live with him if he is banned from Yehuda and Shomron. They will remain in Yitzhar.
“Even the appellee’s request to alter the conditions of the order to allow him to be confined to Yitzhar was offhandedly rejected. Refusing the appellee’s request to live in Yitzhar under restrictive conditions is considered by him to be scandalous and unreasonable. The rejection unjustifiably causes significant damage to the appellee and his family.”
Honenu Attorney Nati Rom stated, “The wholesale use by the security system of administrative restraining orders, which date back to the British Mandate of Palestine, against youths from Yehuda and Shomron, is a scandal with which one must not reconcile oneself. We will continue to fight with all means at our disposal against such orders. We will invest our best efforts to bring every such order to judicial review.”
https://video.wixstatic.com/video/4e1a59_980ef26690de410b96b5ec14577cb844/480p/mp4/file.mp4
Reading the order to Zarog in Yitzhar; Video credit: Free use