Documentation of the unlawful detention; Video credit: Moti Kastel
Friday, August 8, 2025, 9:07 In December 2020, Ahuvia Sandak, z”l, a 16-year-old Jewish youth, was tragically killed in a police-car chase in the Binyamin region. The car Ahuvia was in, with four other youths, overturned when the police car collided with it from behind. Honenu has been representing those who are demanding a judicial investigation of the cause of the death, and also defending the many who have been detained while demonstrating for a change in the police behavior that led to the fatal car ramming.
Four and a half years ago, at one of the demonstrations held shortly after Sandak’s death, a protester was unjustifiably detained. Honenu Attorney Menashe Yado filed a suit for unlawful detention against the Israel Police on behalf of the detainee. Recently, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court awarded the claimant NIS 11,500 in compensation and NIS 5,000 for attorneys’ fees.
The day before the claimant’s unlawful detention, he was detained by the Israel Police at a protest, and released shortly afterward. The following day, he participated in another protest, at which he was careful to abide by the rules, and did not step off of the sidewalk, but when he saw police officers detaining a man with a cognitive disability, he intervened.
In the statement of claim, Attorney Yado wrote, “During the protest, the claimant saw police officers pushing a man whom he knew had a cognitive disability, and shouted at them that the man was ‘not 100%,’ and that they should leave him alone. The officers left the man, but then, they jumped on the claimant and pinned him to the ground [before detaining him].”
Even though the claimant had not attempted to resist the officers, they detained him. The incident was filmed by Moti Kastel (see video above), a journalist who was working for Channel 14 at the time, and is currently working for Channel 20.
Recently, Judge Yigal Barak-Ofer ruled that the detention was illegal: “It was not proven that the claimant disrupted the detention, other than by verbal objection to the detention of the man with a cognitive disability, which should be prevented unequivocally. Also, the claimant’s testimony that [his verbal objection] was the only basis for his detention is accepted. Moreover, the police action report of the detention mentions only a misdemeanor that was not grounds for detention. Therefore, the subsequent detention of the claimant was proven to have been illegal.”
Honenu Attorney Menashe Yado, who represented the protester, stated, “Honenu has filed dozens of suits over violations of protesters’ rights at demonstrations protesting the actions of the officers involved in the police car chase that resulted in the death of Ahuvia Sandak, z”l. Honenu has won virtually all of the suits. During the past decade, Honenu has led the efforts to protect the rights of right-wing protesters, and this ruling is another link in a long chain of successes.
“During the investigation following the police car chase, the circumstances of Ahuvia’s death were covered up by the law enforcement authorities. Our heartfelt prayer is that justice will finally be done, and the courts will punish those responsible.”