​The Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, chaired by a settler in the Palestinian occupied West Bank, MK Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism), on Wednesday, November 6, began to prepare for first reading the Emergency Powers Bill (Detentions) (Amendment—Administrative Detentions for Membership in a Terrorist Organization), 2024, sponsored by Committee Chair.

Settles set fire to a number of Palestinian-owned vehicles at dawn on Monday after attacking the city of Al-Bireh and the town of Deir Dibwan to the east in the occupied West Bank, Monday, November 4, 2024 (Photo: WAFA)

It is proposed to stipulate that the provisions of the Emergency Powers Law (Detentions), 1979, and the provisions of the Defense (Emergency) Regulations dealing with restriction orders, will not apply to Israeli citizens unless the Minister of Defense has a reasonable foundation to presume that a citizen of the State of Israel is a member of a terrorist organization listed in the addendum to the law. The addendum will include terrorist organizations working to undermine the State of Israel’s existence or to commit acts of terrorism against its citizens.

Committee Chair MK Rothman: “The dismissal of a Defense Minister is not a cause for joy, but it should be noted that per month of his term as Defense Minister, Minister [MK Yoav] Gallant (Likud) used this tool much more than [MK Benjamin] Gantz (National Unity Party) as minister; highly excessive use. I’m not addressing the general issue of his dismissal, but the outrageous conduct on the issue of the bill—that alone could justify his dismissal. During a two-year period, more administrative orders were issued against Jewish citizens of Israel, while at the same time, the number of terrorist attacks in Israel committed by Arab citizens of Israel increased sharply.”

Far-right and settler MK Limor Sonn Har Melech (Otzma Yehudit): “I welcome this bill, which does justice. I am asking [incoming] Minister [MK Israel] Katz (Likud) to give instructions to reexamine each case and to give instructions to release the [Jewish] detainees now.”

However, MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash-Ta’al) said: “Administrative detention is a dictatorial tool without a trial, without evidence, and it doesn’t matter who it’s used against, political right or left, Palestinian or settler. This is a fundamentally wrongful tool, and it should be abolished completely. But the bill does the opposite, it wants to continue the administrative detentions but only for Palestinians, and it uses whitewashed language such as ‘only someone who attacked citizens,’ so that it will not be possible to detain settler rioters who attack every day. At present there are about 3,500 administrative detainees, not including the Nukhba members, and a few Jews, who mainly had restriction orders issued against them.”

“We are against administrative detentions categorically, but to present a bill that is aimed at granting terrorists’ immunity from administrative detentions just because they’re Jewish, that is an apartheid bill that is in line with the apartheid regime in the territories and also in Israel in recent years,” agreed MK Cassif. According to MK Alon Schuster (National Unity Party), “The bill undermines our ability to cope with nationalist crime, which exists, regrettably, among native Hebrew speakers as well.”

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32226