The President of the Ofer Military Court of Appeals, Judge Col. Netanel Benisho, ordered the cancellation of an administrative order issued to a 16-year old resident of Kiryat Arba. The order was issued to the minor approximately one month ago, on a recommendation by the Shin Bet and signed by IDF Central District Commander Major-General Roni Numa. The order distanced the minor from all of Yehuda and Shomron, other than his parents’ home, including his place of study in the Har Hebron region, and required him to be under house arrest at night at his parents’ home.

The minor, who regularly attends school, visited Givat HaBaladim and Geulat Tzion a few times for Shabbat during the past several months. At the deliberation Honenu Attorney Menasheh Yado, who filed the appeal with the military court, stated that the purpose of the order was to empty the hilltop communities of their residents and that it was not based purely on security concerns.

As with all administrative orders there were no accusations made and no court ruled on the matter. Such orders are issued by authority of emergency measures and security legislation, the purpose of which is to thwart terror.

“After studying the information and the claims of both sides, I have reached the conclusion that the order should be canceled,” ruled the judge in his decision. Later in his ruling the judge elaborated on the reasons which brought him to the decision and mentioned that he did not find at this time that the appellant posed a danger to the security of the area and therefore the GOC did not have grounds to distance him.

Additionally, the court partially accepted a petition by a Binyamin resident, a minor, who had received an identical administrative order and reduced its duration from five months to only two. In the decision, the court ruled that the reduction was necessary in order to allow for a reexamination of the case at that time. for an early examination of the necessity to continue the restriction. Honenu Attorney Menasheh Yado represented the minor.

In response to the cancellation Yado stated that, “The attempt by the Shon Bet to cope with hilltop communities, which are first and foremost social arrangements, with military measures suitable for handling terror, does not express strength but rather weakness, a weakness of the leadership in coping with the public and an attempt to ostracize such youths as if they were not part of the social fabric of Israel.

“In this case [the Central District Commander] wanted to issue an administrative order to a youth who is still under the close care of his parents. This is clear testimony to the lack of appropriateness which has reached ludicrousness. We are pleased that the court put the Shin bet in its place and did not allow a minor to be issued an administrative order.”

Recently the court also reduced the duration of Yitzhar resident Elkana Picard’s administrative restrictive order from four to two months.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)