On Friday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir tried to call Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for clarification regarding the administrative detention of two suspects in the Huawara riots who had just been sent home by a district court. As we reported on Friday (Ben Gvir Attacks Gallant’s Administrative Detention of Released Settlers), one moment after a court on Thursday released all eight detainees who are suspected of carrying out riots and arson in Huwara, two of them were sent to four months of administrative detention by Gallant. One of the detainees is a 17-year-old minor, and the other is in his late 20s.
But Gallant, who signed the detention warrant, did not answer Ben Gvir’s call, which led the national security minister to contact Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
An Irate Ben Gvir issued a statement saying: “Precisely during the days when the heroic settlers in Judea and Samaria are suffering from murderous terrorism, the defense minister chooses to issue two administrative detention warrants against two Jews, one of whom is a minor (!), while preferring a policy of ‘inclusion’ regarding the terrorists, and this is regrettable.
“Despite the fact that the court ordered the release of the two Jewish detainees, those who issued the order chose to bypass the court in an unusual and severe procedure contrary to a democratic worldview. I will contact Gallant and the Prime Minister this evening and demand clarification on this anti-democratic decision.”
According to Reshet Bet Radio on Sunday, Gallant told Ben Gvir that he would stop talking to him if he continued to distribute the contents of their private conversations to the media, as Ben Gvir had already done three times, according to Gallant.
Security apparatus officials told Reshet Bet that the two detainees in question were planning new attacks on their Arab neighbors, and added that “irresponsible politicians are set the area on fire for political reasons and cause international damage for personal gain only.”
