Activists jailed for weeks over dumpster fires near PM’s home ordered freed to house arrest

Four anti-government activists detained for setting fire to dumpsters near the prime minister’s residence were ordered freed to supervised house arrest Sunday afternoon, after spending weeks in jail.

The decision was handed down in the Jerusalem District Court by Judge Mordechai Borstein. The defendants will remain in custody until Tuesday, however, after the prosecution was granted a stay, allowing it to prepare an appeal to the Supreme Court.

The defendants — Lt. Col. (res.) Amos Doron, 60, Shmuel Reuveni, 57, Eyal Giller, 54, and Mark Foigel, 57 — were charged last month in court with arson, causing property damage and obstructing justice.

Prosecutors charged three of the defendants with torching dumpsters in Jerusalem’s Rehavia neighborhood during a day of mass protests for the return of the hostages, while the fourth defendant, Foigel, is accused of organizing the attacks.

The blazes forced locals to evacuate their homes and destroyed a nearby car. Prosecutors said the effort was coordinated with the aim of creating a “ring of fire” around Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home.

Escorted by prison guards, the four men shuffled into the courtroom in handcuffs at around 2 p.m. The hearing lasted some two hours. In attendance were the defendants’ family members and The Democrats MK Naama Lazimi, an ardent supporter of the anti-government protest movement.

Four anti-government activists, in detention now nearly two months for setting fire to dumpsters outside Netanyahu's house, arrive in Jerusalem District Court where judge will rule on their release pic.twitter.com/ALlnwHS5Le

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The State Attorney’s Office requested that three of the four defendants be placed under electronically supervised house arrest, except for Foigel, whom prosecutors sought to keep in custody for his role in planning the arson, calling him the “dominant actor” in the plot.

Representing the prosecution, attorney Assaf Swissa said that the incident was not a “standard arson case of setting fire to a far-flung trash bin or highway, nor a standard case of protest or disorderly conduct” — rather a carefully planned effort to threaten the state’s rule.

Borstein concurred with the prosecution’s characterization of the defendants, calling them “the most extreme of extremists.” However, he noted that the probation service, after examining each defendant, found there was no danger in releasing them to supervised house arrest, where their relatives would watch over them at all hours of the day.

The judge accepted the argument of one of the suspects’ lawyers, Nir Alfasa, that the return of the 20 living hostages back to Israel created different political conditions than those of a month ago, lessening the chance they would repeat the offense at future protests.

“Detention is not advanced in order to punish, even if it is protesters who made a mistake and carried out an offense that went beyond the limits of protest,” said Alfasa after the hearing. “It is very easy to come to the conclusion that they aren’t dangerous to the public peace, and that it is possible to release them to house arrest.”

Two of the suspects were arrested on September 3, the day of the incident, while the others were arrested two weeks later, and they have all remained behind bars since then.

The detainees were transferred from Ramle’s Nitzan Prison to Hadarim Prison in central Israel. The extended detentions of the defendants have sparked protests among fellow anti-government activists.

Representing Foigel, attorney Gaby Lasky questioned police in deciding to push for the suspects’ extended detention “specifically in this instance.” She referenced the frequent dumpster fires lit by Haredi protesters during anti-draft demonstrations.

“Not far from here in the Geula neighborhood, people burn dumpsters night after night for an ideological reason: in order to dodge military service, exactly the inverse of the people sitting here,” Lasky said, gesturing to the defendants.

As the hearing came to a close, family members in the courtroom went up to the podium one by one, and vowed to supervise the defendants and call the police if they violated the terms of their house arrest.