Sunday, April 10, 2022, 9:51 Honenu reports a sharp increase in both the number of requests for assistance with regard to administrative orders and the severity of the restrictions imposed on the recipients. Currently, Honenu is handling over ten cases of administrative distancing orders, some of which distance the recipient not only from Yehuda and Shomron, but also from their own homes. It has been a number of years since so many administrative orders have been served in such a short time period. (See here for a similar situation in 2017, see here for a similar situation in 2016, and see here for a similar situation in 2015.)
At least three of the orders were served to hilltop youth during the past month, during the wave of Arab terror sweeping across all of Israel. The orders distance the three youths from Yehuda and Shomron for six months, and one of the three is also distanced from Jerusalem for that time. In addition to the new orders, Honenu is handling approximately ten orders that were served during the past few months.
One of the recipients is a youth who grew up in one of the Gush Shilo communities in the Binyamin region. His order includes distancing from Yehuda and Shomron, but he is also distanced from his home community. The youth was sent to Hinanit, a northern Shomron community in which he has neither relatives nor acquaintances. (In June 2016 a minor was sent to an isolated farm in the south of Israel without his parents’ consent.) Honenu appealed the order, and after the army refused to allow the youth to stay at his parents’ house, they agreed to allow him to stay at his brother’s house in Kochav HaShahar. However he is under house arrest.
Honenu: “It has been a long time since we have seen such drastic orders. Over the past few years, administrative orders have allowed the recipients to stay in their home communities in Yehuda and Shomron. Here, there is a young man, unmarried, and they tear him away from his home and toss him into a community in which he is not acquainted with anyone. Where is he going to sleep? How is he going to eat?”
In a similar case, an unmarried youth from one of the Gav HaHar communities in the Shomron was served with an administrative order restricting him to Kiryat Arba, where he has no relatives or acquaintances. He is required to report to the Kiryat Arba Police Station twice a week. Another youth, officially a Jerusalem resident, is distanced by administrative order from all of Yehuda and Shomron, even though he lives and works there. He is also required to report to the police station twice a week.
A married resident of a Gush Shilo community was restricted by administrative order from leaving his community, which prevented him from working. Honenu discussed the matter with the army, and the resident was granted permission to travel to his job in a different community, thereby allowing him to support his family.
Honenu is highly critical of the use of administrative orders in general, and especially during a wave of murderous Arab terror: “The army is not letting the wave of terror interfere with their important work – serving hilltop youth with administrative orders. The orders constitute a severe violation of human rights, being as neither the recipient nor his attorneys have any legal recourse. The recipients are not put on trial, and neither they nor their attorneys are presented with any evidence. The administrative system functions as the opposite of criminal law.
“One of the recipients was interrogated for five days, without any evidence being obtained and without connecting him to the matter at hand. Suddenly, a week later, he was served with an administrative order. On what grounds!? When the authorities are not able to indict someone by the usual process, they resort to issuing administrative orders. This is not acceptable. And it should be noted that administrative proceedings have never been used against organized crime.
“If there is evidence, then it should be presented to the accused. The recipients of administrative orders do not even know with what they are being charged. The cases are not serious matters of physical injury, but rather vague accusations not supported by evidence, over which youths receive restrictive orders reserved by law for terror organizations. At a time that the State of Israel is doing little to combat the genuine wave of terror, the administrative orders are particularly unjust,” concluded Honenu.