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Photos:
Palestinians attend a protest condemning the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh by Israeli forces during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, Haifa, May 11, 2022. (Shir Torem/Flash90) Published by 972Mag

Jerusalem, November 6, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90) Published by 972Mag

Israeli police guard while Palestinians perform Friday prayers in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras Al Amud, December 8, 2023. (Jamal Awad/Flash90) Published by 972Mag
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Administrative detention, long weaponized against Palestinians under occupation, is gradually being directed toward those with citizenship too.

By Baker Zoubi for 972Mag
January 8, 2024

In the shadow of the Hamas-led October 7 attack and Israel’s ongoing bombardment of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian citizens of Israel have been facing a wave of persecution. Hundreds have been arrested or interrogated, usually on the basis of social media activity; dozens more have been suspended or dismissed from Israeli academic institutions; and a recent amendment to Israel’s Counterterrorism Law is enabling unprecedented levels of surveillance.

At the same time, a more subtle but equally dangerous move to further cast the community as “internal enemies” has gone largely under the radar: since October 7, Israel has placed seven Palestinian citizens in administrative detention.

Israel has routinely used administrative detention to arbitrarily incarcerate Palestinians in the occupied territories — who are subject to Israeli military rule — for months or even years on the basis of “classified” evidence, without the need for standard legal proceedings like presenting charges or holding a trial. Before the war, there was already a higher number of administrative detainees — over 1,300 — than at any time in the previous three decades; now, that figure has more than doubled.

But this practice has very rarely been used against Palestinians with Israeli citizenship since the lifting of military rule inside the state in 1966. In fact, according to Nareman Shehadeh-Zoabi, a lawyer at the Haifa-based legal center Adalah, there were only four known such cases in recent years: three during the Palestinian uprising of May 2021 that became known as the “Unity Intifada,” and a single case before that.

Earlier this year, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir raised the prospect of using the measure more widely against Palestinian citizens, ostensibly to crack down on the plague of organized crime and gun violence within Arab communities in Israel. Human rights organizations and civil society groups strongly objected to those proposals at the time, fearing that the Israeli authorities would inevitably expand the use of administrative detention beyond the fight against crime.

While Ben Gvir didn’t initially get his wish, the authorities are now using the measure more than ever against Palestinian citizens, with the current Gaza war providing the justification. In recent weeks, two Palestinians from Umm al-Fahem, one from Qalansawa, three from Arraba and Sakhnin, and one from Majd al-Krum have all been incarcerated using administrative detention.

“It started with three detainees about a month and a half ago, and now we’re talking about seven,” Sawsan Zaher, a human rights attorney representing the three detainees from Arraba and Sakhnin, told +972 and Local Call. “It’s a very worrying escalation.”

Hussein Manna, a lawyer representing another of the detainees, described this as “a new wave of repression against Arab society. Ordinary activities are now suddenly linked to anti-terrorism laws or accusations of incitement to terrorism. Standard arrests have decreased because it is difficult for the police to justify them, so that makes administrative detention a useful tool, because security forces don’t have to present any evidence.”

‘Preventing Arab society from raising its head’
On Dec. 5, Jaber Mahajneh was arrested by the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, in the northern city of Umm al-Fahem. According to his lawyer, Raslan Mahajneh (no immediate relation), he was set to be released after a week in jail. However, Mahajneh then received an order, signed by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, to place him in administrative detention.

“From the materials we were allowed to see, there are no real reasons for this arrest,” the lawyer explained. “He is a religious man who writes religious texts. They said they found texts in his house talking about jihad, although these are ordinary texts from the Qur’an and religious books. Even the judge did not believe that there was serious evidence against the detainee. But because the country is at war, he approved administrative detention on [Jaber] for three months, and said that if the circumstances of the war change, the issue can be reexamined.”

While the detainees from Umm al-Fahem, Sakhnin, and Arraba were all arrested on grounds relating to their religious piety, Majd Sagir from Majd al-Krum was arrested over the accusation that he was in contact with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) — a Palestinian political party that Israel considers a terrorist group. No evidence was presented to back up this accusation.

“They claim there is no suspicion [that he committed a crime], but that it is likely that he intends to, and so not arresting him will harm the state’s security,” Manna, who is Sagir’s attorney, explained. “And of course, under the pretext of war and a state of emergency, the court immediately approved the detention despite our claim that it violates his rights as a citizen — that citizens cannot be arrested and kept in extended detention if they have not broken the law. But this argument was to no avail.”

Israel’s use of administrative detention as a supposedly “preventive” measure is particularly common. “The whole idea of it is illegal — preventive detention without qualifying evidence,” said Adalah’s Shehadeh-Zoabi. She likened it to believing that you could “enter a person’s head, know his intentions, and stop him” before he commits a crime. This, she added, is how Israel acts toward Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, as a way of “criminalizing the enemy.”

A version of this article was first published in Hebrew on Local Call. Read it here.
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Gallant said to bash Ben Gvir over bid to expand administrative detention powers

Defense minister reportedly slams far-right lawmaker seeking ability to also hold suspects without charge, saying having experience behind bars doesn’t make him an expert

By Times of Israel (TOI) STAFF
18 July 2023, 3:25 am

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reportedly slammed National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir over demands he be granted power to jail suspects without charge, as the government continued to show little interest in the measure.

Ben Gvir, head of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, has been seeking government support for a proposal that would grant his ministry the right to issue administrative detention orders, which allows a suspect to be held without formally filing charges. Currently, only the defense minister has the power, used mainly in national security cases, but Ben Gvir, whose ministry oversees the police, wants to expand the measure to be used in the battle against an ongoing deadly crime wave in the Arab community.

During a cabinet meeting on Sunday, the pair exchanged harsh words on the matter, the latest in a series of angry spats between the uneasy allies. During the argument, Ben Gvir, a former terror convict, boasted to Gallant of his personal experience with administrative detention, according to Channel 12 news.

I know [the matter] 1,000 times better than you, I was subject to administrative detention,” he reportedly said.

Ben Gvir has a long history of arrests and convictions for far-right activity, including incitement and support of a terror group. He was considered such a security risk as a teenager that the IDF refused to allow him to enlist in the military.

Gallant reportedly retorted: “The fact that you made a career out of actions like this, and it brought you to the Knesset, doesn’t make you an expert in administrative detentions.”

About 1,000 Palestinians and just a handful of Jewish Israelis are in custody under administrative detention, which requires the defense minister’s signature, upon recommendation of the Shin Bet. The order allows suspects to be held without charge, trial, or access to classified evidence against them for renewable six-month terms.

The bill pushed by Ben Gvir would grant him parallel authority and allow him to jail criminal suspects without trial, provided he thinks the person poses a danger to the public and the move was requested by the police commissioner and had the approval of the attorney general, the state attorney, or one of their deputies.

But on Sunday, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation pushed off a vote on Ben Gvir’s legislation for the fourth week in a row, this time without setting a future date for its deliberation.

The move appeared to be a victory for Gallant, who according to Channel 12 had demanded that other ministers back his position.

“Someone who is walking around with a jerrycan is planning to set a fire, not graffiti,” the defense minister reportedly said, adding that “I read every [administrative detention] order 30 times before I sign it… I am acting by virtue of my authority against terrorism, even when it comes to Jewish terrorism.”

While Ben Gvir has sought to be granted access to expanded power to jail Arab suspects without charge, he has repeatedly slammed the use of administrative detention against Jewish terror suspects, including in the recent settler riots. Before entering the Knesset, Ben Gvir had a long legal career defending so-called hilltop youth who had been arrested and detained on terror charges for violence against Palestinians.

The Kan public broadcaster reported that on Sunday Gallant demanded Ben Gvir explain his double standard on the issue, to which the national security minister replied: “It’s very simple, you’re issuing administrative detention orders to those who damage property, and I want orders against murderers.”

On Monday, Gallant signed administrative detention orders against three more settler youths suspected of involvement in last month’s settler rampages in Palestinian towns. The right-wing legal aid group Honenu said the three were arrested by the Shin Bet and police in the early hours of Monday morning and have not been brought before a court.

The latest measure brings the total number of Jewish suspects held for the attacks to eight.

According to Kan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to favor at least some expansion of Ben Gvir’s powers, saying that “Arab citizens are living in hell. I always opposed such measures, but when you’re using tools to stop his horrible thing, this spreading cancer, you can find a balance and use restrictive measures.”

Since the start of this year, violent crime in the Arab community has claimed 124 lives, compared to 116 during all of 2022, according to the non-profit Abraham Initiatives.

Since his appointment in December, Ben Gvir has sought to exercise more direct control over police operations and personnel, including an ultimately successful drive to remove the Tel Aviv police commander, and has pushed to expand his powers, in moves critics say tamper with the independence of the police.

On Saturday, Ben Gvir declared that he was “not asking for advice” from the Shin Bet on the crime wave gripping the Arab community, but rather only to deploy the internal security agency’s advanced anti-terror tools against Israeli criminal suspects.

Carrie Keller-Lynn contributed to this report.