Settler activist gets four months of administrative detention

An Israeli settler, likely from an illegal West Bank outpost, is arrested and put in administrative detention for four months on suspicion of posing a threat to either state security or public security.

The young man, aged 22, is described by the Honenu legal aid organization representing him as “a shepherd from the Binyamin district” in the West Bank, meaning he is likely from what are known as agricultural outposts, illegal dwellings established by Israeli settlers to expand control of territory in Area C of the West Bank.

The detention order is valid until March 14 and was approved by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant today.

Settler activists have named him as Amitzur Ben Yosef.

עמיצור בן יוסף בן 22.
הפשע: רועה צאן בבנימין ושומר על אדמות הארץ.
קיבל מעצר מנהלי ל5 חודש משר הביטחון הכושל בתולדות ישראל. pic.twitter.com/zwm5vP29VO

— נעמי רחליס (@Kahanatz) November 16, 2023

Administrative detention allows a suspect to be held in detention for renewable periods of up to six months, on the basis of secret evidence made available only to a military judge.

This is the second time a Jewish Israeli has been put into administrative detention since October 7.

Radical settler activist Ariel Danino from the illegal outpost of Kumi Ori was put into administrative detention last month, also on suspicion of posing a threat to state or public security.

An appeal Danino filed to the Supreme Court against his administrative detention was rejected on Tuesday.

Settler violence against Palestinians has spiked dramatically since Hamas’s October 7 atrocities.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there have been 244 incidents of settlers assaulting Palestinians or vandalizing their property since October 7, as of Tuesday.