Austin told Katz he was concerned over end to administrative detention for settlers, US official says

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin raised the Biden administration’s alarm over Defense Minister Israel Katz’s decision to end the practice of administrative detention for Jewish settlers during their call earlier today, a US official tells The Times of Israel.

The administrative detentions against a handful of Jewish extremists have been virtually the only step Israeli authorities have taken to reign in on such suspects, as police arrests in near daily settler attacks on Palestinians are highly rare.

The failure of Israeli authorities to clamp down on the phenomenon has led the US and other Western countries to begin issuing sanctions against extremist settler individuals and entities earlier this year.

Katz’s decision to end the practice of detention without trial against Jews only, while maintaining the practice en masse against Palestinians as well as a handful of Arab Israeli raises significant concerns about discrimination, the US official says, confirming reporting in the Axios news site.