The number of murder victims in Arab society rose to 101 this weekend, according to police, after another murder in Nazareth. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Saturday night Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, saying her opposition to administrative detention of the heads of crime organizations in the Arab sector is outrageous.
Ben Gvir pointed out that the police submitted a request as early as a month ago for administrative arrests of several chiefs of crime families, some of whom have been implicated in murders, which could have been prevented had the AG not torpedoed their detention.
Administrative detention is the arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. The legal basis for Israel’s use of Administrative Detention is the British Mandate 1945 Defense (Emergency) Regulations which were amended in 1979 to create an Israeli law governing administrative detentions. The measure is commonly applied to Arab suspects, but it has also been applied to right-wing Israeli Jews.
In Israel, only the defense minister has the authority to issue administrative detention orders, for up to 6 months, in cases where there is a reasonable chance that the person is harming the security of the state.
Ben Gvir complained about “the irresponsible ease with which the AG approves administrative detention for boys suspected of disorderly conduct in Hawara, compared to her opposition to administrative detention for mafia heads with blood on their hands.”
There is a dispute between the police and the media in Israel as to how many Israeli Arabs have been murdered since the start of 2023: the police say it was 101 victims, while many media outlets say it has been 105.
