Report: If policy to end administrative detention for settlers is implemented, prosecutors won’t defend it

If a newly announced policy to only use administrative detention against Palestinians is implemented, the State Attorney’s Office will reportedly no longer be able to defend the use of the controversial legal tool that enables the detention of individuals without charge for up to six months at a time.

New Defense Minister Israel Katz announced last week that he was ending such orders against West Bank settlers.

While the practice is primarily deployed against Palestinians, it is also used against some extremist Jewish Israelis, which has drawn increasing criticism of the ruling Likud party by far-right coalition members. The detentions can be renewed indefinitely while allowing military prosecutors to keep suspects from being able to see the evidence against them.

At a recent meeting hosted by State Attorney Amit Aisman, it was decided that it is currently possible to defend the existing administrative detention orders against Palestinians, including some Israeli Arab citizens, since it can be argued that the new policy is merely a political statement that hasn’t had any effect in the field, the i24News outlet reports.

According to the unsourced report, “the understanding” within Aisman’s office is that if Katz’s declaration is implemented, it would be impossible to legally defend orders that by definition are only issued against certain groups of the population.

Aisman declines to respond to the report.