Israel’s selective justice encouraging lawbreaking settlers

The appointment of Israel Katz as Israeli defense minister last month, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had dismissed Yoav Gallant for questioning him, was greeted in Israel with something between astonishment and ridicule.
One Israeli commentator remarked that “Katz has zero defense credentials, zero credibility with the military top brass and zero experience in managing such a huge and complex system.” For Netanyahu, in this most paranoid phase of his political life, these are exactly the credentials, or lack of them, that he was looking for. Someone who is no real threat to him, who is full of self-importance and whose ego exceeds his talents, meaning he will not dare to challenge the decisions coming from the prime minister’s office as long as he carries this coveted title.
Yet, already in his very short time in the most powerful government department, Katz has proven his ability to cause damage by taking a most controversial decision: to no longer use administrative detention — detention without trial — against settlers in the West Bank.
In principle, Katz should have been applauded for abolishing administrative detentions. After all, international law allows a state to use administrative detention only in emergencies and only if a fair hearing can be provided, in which the detainee can challenge the allegations against them. But here comes the twist in the tail: Katz thinks the Israeli security forces should refrain from applying this objectionable practice as a matter of law and principle, but only where Israelis are concerned, not Palestinians.
In a week when arrest warrants were issued against Netanyahu and Gallant for war crimes and Israel’s reputation for upholding human rights and international law is at an all-time low, what on earth prompted Katz to provide further credibility to those who level against Israel the charge that it is imposing a system of apartheid, at least in the Occupied Territories, if not beyond?
A look at the numbers of those whom Israel holds in administrative detention without trial reveals a staggeringly discriminatory situation. At the beginning of November, out of 3,451 suspects being detained without trial, only eight were Israelis, while the rest were Palestinian.
Addressing the rise and rise of settler terrorism in recent months and years should be a priority and should have been the case for a long time. Since the sixth and most far-right Netanyahu government came to power in December 2022, those who engage in these abhorrent activities know they can rely on the protection of their representatives in government.
For the security forces, administrative arrests are “efficient” and reduce the risk of revealing sources, but for any democracy it means the slippery slope of undermining a person’s basic right to adequate legal representation and a fair trial. From the ratio of settlers to Palestinians on the receiving end of this measure, it becomes clear how reluctant the Shin Bet is to administratively detain settlers, while being indiscriminate with the practice when it comes to Palestinians. If there is strong enough evidence, suspects should be charged and, if not, their freedom must be sacrosanct, except for very extreme cases and without ethnic, religious or gender discrimination.
The Shin Bet, which has the unenviable task of averting terrorism carried out by both sides, objects to Katz’s move because of a fear it will make its job more difficult. But the unacceptable number of Palestinian administrative detainees highlights that it has become a tool — one that is too easy to use — that allows suspects to be deprived of their freedom for a very long time without the need to go through the legal process. We should also be concerned about how many innocent Palestinians are now incarcerated, yet would not have been had they been able to have their day in court.
What makes this decision even more objectionable is that the government is sending a clear message to the violent elements among the settlers that their terrorist acts will be dealt with softly-softly, with no sense of urgency or duty of care toward the Palestinian population of the West Bank that the Israeli government has responsibility for as the occupying force.
Considering the track record of all Israeli governments since 1967, but especially the current one, which has become a puppet of the settler movement and its representatives in government, we should no longer be surprised that discriminatory policies and legislation — and above all the indifference shown toward settler violence — have reached a new level. Yet, we can still be appalled, protest and demand that it stops.
But let’s face it: the settler movement will never be satisfied until the West Bank is annexed. And it will probably seek the transfer of Palestinians to neighboring countries. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said last week that Israel should occupy Gaza and “encourage” half of the Strip’s 2.2 million Palestinians to emigrate within two years — a statement that did not receive the international condemnation it deserved, although it should shock any decent human being.
Furthermore, with this chilling statement, Smotrich gave us a clear idea of what this senior Cabinet member must think about also “encouraging” Palestinians to leave the West Bank. Netanyahu actively supports, or at least turns a blind eye to, this fast-deteriorating situation, as long as it helps his narcissistic drive to survive in power.
The settlers, especially those who believe in and practice Israeli supremacy, have long been aware of Netanyahu’s weaknesses and hence ceased to respect the law and the authorities.

Netanyahu actively supports, or at least turns a blind eye to, this fast-deteriorating situation, as long as it helps his narcissistic drive to survive in power.

Yossi Mekelberg

Only last week, security forces arrested eight Israeli settlers in Hebron for taunting Palestinian locals walking near the Ibrahimi Mosque, using vulgar language and gestures. On the same day, several settlers also became suspected of involvement in an attempted assault on the head of Central Command, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, and several other officers who were touring the city. They hurled insults at them regarding administrative orders, called them traitors and enemies of Israel and blocked their way.
By now, the pandering of Israeli society to the settlers, which amounts to at least tacit empowerment of them, has damaged the country’s democracy, its international reputation and, above all, the chances of ever reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians based on a two-state solution. When the government offers preferential treatment to its own lawbreakers, it only encourages them. It is not administrative detention that is needed but effective law enforcement, as well as soul-searching on the part of all Israelis concerning how such a pathological political phenomenon has been allowed to emerge without restraint.

• Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. X: @YMekelberg