Only Palestinian suspects can be detained indefinitely without trial, according to Israel’s new defense minister, who also stated that security forces will no longer impose administrative detention orders on Jewish residents in the occupied West Bank.
The controversial policy revisions, which come amid the battles in Gaza and Lebanon and the election of President-elect Donald Trump, are the most recent manifestation of an emboldened Israeli far-right.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s longtime supporter Israel Katz, who was named defense minister earlier in November, made the announcement on Friday.
According to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, 3,340 Palestinians were detained in administrative custody in June, more than twice as many as were detained prior to the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack. More than 11,800 Palestinians have been arrested since the start of the current conflict, according to a statement released on Saturday by the Palestinian Prisoner Society.
Tselemsaid B Additionally, 37 foreigners and Israeli citizens were being detained. It’s unclear if the policy shift has resulted in the release of any Israelis.
Yair Lapid, the chairman of the Israeli opposition, denounced the move to revoke administrative orders for Israelis on X as reckless and dangerous.
However, Israel’s ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir praised the decision on X, calling it a justice for people who love the land and a remedy of a long-standing injustice.
The majority of states believe that Israel has unlawfully occupied the West Bank, which is ostensibly under the control of the Palestinian Authority and is considered by Palestinians as essential to a future state.
Before President Joe Biden reinstated the long-standing American stance that West Bank settlements are unlawful, Trump renounced it in 2019. Some Jewish squatters in the region that Israel acquired during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War have come under growing criticism from the United States. A group of Israeli settlers was sanctioned by the United States last week for allegedly aiding in the region’s violence.
Annexation on the horizon?
Israeli ministers’ increased calls for the annexation of the West Bank are accompanied with settlers’ exemption from administrative detention.
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s ultranationalist finance minister, declared earlier in November that the moment had come to annex portions of the region and that he would go to Trump for cooperation.
During Trump’s first term, Israel and Washington discussed plans to annex parts of the West Bank. Smotrich stated that he would encourage his government to interact with the incoming administration in order to garner support.
Together with our American allies, we shall exercise sovereignty, he declared.
In a recent interview with the Arutz Sheva network, Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and Trump’s choice for ambassador to Israel, claimed that the West Bank does not exist and that it is not under occupation.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that since October 7, 40 Israelis and 733 Palestinians have been murdered in the West Bank. Additionally, it stated that during this period, settler attacks on Palestinians in the region have sharply increased.
According to the U.N., since the start of the current conflict, an average of four Palestinian children have been killed every week in the West Bank, which is three times more than the number throughout the first nine months of 2023.
During the Hamas onslaught on October 7, almost 1,200 people were killed and 250 were held captive. According to local sources, Israeli soldiers have murdered around 44,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the conflict began.
According to Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consultant fellow with Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa program, Israeli settlers have been inspired by the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and Trump’s win has further strengthened their resolve.
He told NBC News that the settlers believe this is their moment.
“They have the power to control practically every aspect of this administration, including legislation and expansion settlements. They are already searching Gaza for possible settlement sites, and they are even considering South Lebanon.
“In their view, everything is coming together.”
In a phone conversation with Katz on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin reiterated the country’s “ironclad commitment” to Israel’s security.
Austin stressed the U.S. commitment to obtaining the release of all captives, including U.S. citizens, and asked the Israeli government to keep taking action to improve the “dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza.”
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