This past summer, IDF Central District Commander Major-General Nitzan Alon issued several administrative orders banning Jewish youths from entering the regions of Yehuda and Shomron. In an unusual case, a minor was banned from his own home where he lives with his parents, in Bat Ayin.

As the Tishrei yomim tovim approached, Honenu attorney Adi Kedar, who is representing the youth, requested that Major-General Alon cancel the order, or at least allow the youth to be at home with his parents during the yomim tovim.

“The order does not specify the cause for which the order was issued against my client,” wrote Kedar. “The order deeply injures my client and his family, and was apparently politically motivated and issued arbitrarily.” Additionally Kedar mentioned that there is no possibility of defense against the order due to the fact that the IDF and the ISA (Israel Security Agency – Shin Bet) refuse to present the evidence which supposedly led to issuing the order.

Kedar requested canceling the order or at least allowing the youth to stay in his own home during Yom Kippur and the Sukkos and also funding alternative lodging and a stipend for basic living expenses during the time he is banned from living at home with his parents.

In the reply letter which arrived less than a day before Yom Kippur, First Lieutenant Tal Levi, the officer in charge of public inquiries at the bureau of the Central Command, wrote that Alon authorized the youth to be at his home during Yom Kippur only.

Concerning the remainder of the request, the reply stated that because the olive harvest season is beginning, Major-General Alon has no intention of allowing the youth to return to his home. The reply letter also states that in the past agents from the Jewish Department of the ISA warned the youth that an administrative order might be issued against him.

On the night of Thursday, September 18 the youth was detained after he returned to his home and his parents after wandering from friend to friend, not able to find a place to stay. The court ordered his release and, at the request of Honenu attorney Naftali Wurtzburger who represented the youth, ordered that social services be informed of the decision in order to find a solution for him.

“The Major General’s conduct is in accordance with the guidelines given to him by the ISA, which continue to chip away at human rights, especially when a minor is involved,” said Honenu attorney Kedar, who is representing the youth. “We are preparing an appeal to the Supreme Court against the decision. We hope that thus we will put a stop to this unacceptable conduct.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)