On his way out of office, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon still found the time to send a special gift to the people of Yitzhar, a Jewish community just south of Shechem: Wednesday night Shabak and Police forces raided their homes and handed four administrative removal orders, signed by OC Central Command Roni Numa and Home Front Command Deputy Chief Gen. Dadi Samchi, to four Od Yosef Hai yeshiva students, two adults and two minors, Srugim reported.
The two minors were removed for six months from Judea and Samaria, but one of them, whose parents live in Gush Etzion, was allowed to stay in the Gush. The two adults received four- and nine-month removal orders.
Like all administrative decrees in the occupied Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria, which have been under temporary martial law for almost 40 years now, the removal orders do not mention any evidence or chargers or even suspicions against the recipients, who could just as easily have been stashed away in prison on the same whim. All the orders said was that they had been issued after the commanding officers have become convinced that “it is necessary for the sake of guaranteeing state security, public peace, and maintaining the public order.” One order said it had been issued after “examination of intelligence,” which pointed to “involvement in an illegal and violent activity endangering Palestinian residents and their property.”
One of the four students completed a six-month removal order only a month ago and arrived to continue his yeshiva studies, but as is becoming the norm in these cases, the Shabak issued him a second removal order shortly thereafter. And since by law the government need not explain its reasons, provide evidence or file formal charges, they could ostensibly keep issuing those decrees — unless a new Defense Minister comes on board who is more democratically minded.
Yitzhar’s Yeshiva was occupied for one year, starting April 11, 2014, by a Border Guard company, after confrontations between local residents and the IDF, when the latter had demolished unauthorized structures in the community.
The Honenu legal aid society issued a statement following the four removal decrees, saying, “It appears that the Defense Minister has been disconnected, is losing touch with his own values, and does not comprehend how an orderly government system should operate. Yesterday he told IDF soldiers to say what’s on their minds, even if it contradicts the position of the elected government—in effect preaching a military coups d’état—and today he adds even more administrative decrees as if in Israel there’s no need for evidence, proof and trials. Who will stop this slippery slope?”
Hopefully a man named Avigdor Liebrman. Next week.