Katz joins Ben-Gvir and Smotrich to provide Government’s Cover for Settler Violence

By: Madeeha Al-A’raj
The national Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements stated in its latest weekly report , that the Israeli Minister of Army, Yisrael Katz announced last week, the ending of administrative detention orders against settlers in the West Bank, while maintaining and expanding their use against Palestinians, in a move that reflects the abhorrent racism that the Israeli occupation state has practiced since was establishment.
Ina meeting with the head of the ‘Shin Bet’ Ronen Bar, Katz said that he instructed the Minister of Internal Security on this decision, and asked him to look into alternative tools to administrative detention. He explained this by the false claim that Jewish settlements in the West Bank are exposed to serious Palestinian terrorist threats and that it is inappropriate for the State of Israel to take such a strict measure against settlers. He added that if there is suspicion of committing criminal acts, the perpetrators can be prosecuted, and if not, there are other preventive measures that can be taken that don’t fall within the framework of administrative detention.
The considerations referred to by Katz are false and ridiculous as settlements in the West Bank do not expose to serious threats, after they were transformed into military barracks protected by the occupation army and Ben Gvir’s militias, who throughout the year distributed weapons without controls to 10s of 1000s of extremist settlers, who are carrying out unprecedented terrorist activities against the Palestinians, through which dozens of Palestinian Bedouin and herder communities are being displaced from their lands, and fires are being set and destruction is being spread in the Palestinian countryside and in the cities, as happened recently in the industrial zone of the city of Al-Bireh, through which Palestinian farmers are also prevented under threat of arms from going to their fields and picking their olives.
As a proof of the falsity of those allegations, Katz s statement came as a revelation after he considered that "the time is not right for these measures, also, in light of the unjustified international sanctions against settlers and organizations in the settlements," referring to the sanctions imposed by many countries on terrorist settlers and on the settlement entities that support and encourage them to commit their criminal acts. What is noteworthy here is that the suspension of administrative detention orders for settlers coincided with 2 important events that had a shocking impact on the occupying state:
First, the issuance of 2 arrest warrants against both PM Netanyahu and his former Army Minister Yoav Galantby the International Criminal Court of, on charges of committing war crimes against humanity in the war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, and the second, the US Treasury Department’ decision to impose sanctions on the terrorist organization ‘Hilltop Youth’ last October and another on the ‘Amana Settlement Movement this November.
The Israeli Army Minister Katz’s decision to stop administrative detention orders for settlers has sparked widespread reactions, even in the United States, whose administrations have been accustomed to providing cover for all their human rights violations in the Palestinian territories occupied since the June 1967 aggression. The US State Department spokesman explained that the announcement to stop applying administrative detentions on extremist Israeli settlers represents a retreat from one of the-limit-ed tools that the Israeli government had actually used to control the illegal activities of extremist settlers.
The spokesman, who preferred to remain anonymous, said in response to Alhurra’s inquiries last Saturday that the United States remains deeply concerned about the increasing violence by extremist settlers in the West Bank, including attacks on civilians, the forced displacement of Palestinian communities, and the deliberate destruction of homes and farms. adding that these violent acts cause severe human suffering for Palestinians, threaten Israeli security, make the achievement of the two-state solution more difficult, and undermine the prospects for peace and stability throughout the region.
The reactions in the occupying state varied between broad support, welcome, rejection and condemnation on a narrower scale. Right-wing parties in Israel considered the suspension of the application of the law on settlers asa ‘correction of a historical injustice’, according to Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir, who lives in the Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron. As for Finance Minister Smotrich, who is also a settler living in the ‘Kedumim settlement, in Qalqilya, who described Minister Katz s decision as ‘a step toward ending discrimination against law-abiding settlers’"
As for the settlers and their leaders, Katz’s decision has a special impact as head of the Binyamin Regional Council ’central West Bank’ and head of the Yesha Council, Yisrael Gantz, welcomed the decision, describing the administrative detention of settlers as a repressive tool that is not used against citizens in a state of law, and that the legal authorities must act according to the law and punish violators according to democratic standards, added that over the past period, we have demanded an end to the use of administrative detention orders that violate human rights without trial and without evidence, and now the decision achieves justice.
As for the head of the Northern West Bank Settlement Council, Yossi Dagan, he also welcomed the decision and indicated that he had approached Senator Marco Rubio, the candidate for the position of US Secretary of State, with a call to lift the sanctions imposed by the Biden Administration on a number of Israelis, and that he had delivered a letter from the settler leaders to Rubio last week, during meetings that Dagan held in Washington with members of the House of Representatives and members of the US Senate. In his letter, he pointed out that the reason behind the repressive measures against a number of activists in the settlement movement was false information provided by extreme left-wing organizations supported by foreign “progressive” structures.
Attorney Adi Kedar, who provides support to the families of terrorist settlers, described the decision as a dramatic step by Katz: Stopping administrative detention orders against Jewish settlers is very good news, as administrative detentions in recent years have exceeded all-limit-s. In ten days, this decision will be tested, as a follow-up session is held every 3 months to discuss extending administrative detention orders, and this is the opportunity for the minister to release the settlers.
In return, a number of Israeli human rights organizations opposed to the occupation and settlements have condemned the decision. The former -dir-ector general of Peace Now and head of the so-called Two-State Coalition, Yariv Oppenheimer, said that the decision to stop administrative detention of settlers is outrageous and a green light for terrorism.
According to the Israeli human rights organization B Tselem, Israel has used administrative detention extensively and routinely to detain thousands of Palestinians for long periods. It amended the ‘Unlawful Combatants Law’ at the beginning of the war in Gaza, allowing it to detain prisoners for 45 days without an administrative process, compared to 96 hours previously, adding that canceling administrative detention orders for settlers alone is a ridiculous and incoherent step, whose -function- is to whitewash and normalize the escalating Jewish terrorism under the cover of war, and that Israel was resorting to administrative detention against settlers in order to silence international criticism of their violence and to protect them. As for Yesh Din i.e. ‘there is a law’ has called for the abolition of administrative detention of Palestinians and Israelis because it is a brutal and anti-democratic measure.
In another development, the Israeli army is investigating the entry of Daniela Weiss, the head of an extremist settler movement, into the Gaza Strip last week, without the knowledge of the army leadership. Israeli soldiers in Gaza bypassed their superiors to help the leader of the Nahala settlement Movement enter the Strip to survey the sites of the settlements she seeks to establish.
According to Israeli media, Israeli public radio reported that Daniela Weiss, who seeks to re-settle northern Gaza, toured the Israeli side of the border fence with the Strip with others on Nov. 13, and then the group crossed the border and traveled some distance inside the Strip, added that Weiss contacted soldiers she knows near the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, who in turn sent a car to transport her and her colleagues deeper into the Strip. According to the aforementioned radio, senior Israeli army officials were not aware of Weiss’s entry into the Strip. The army stated that Weiss’s entry into the Gaza Strip was neither known nor approved in the appropriate manner, and if the incident occurred, it is illegal and in violation of protocol and will be dealt with accordingly. ‘The potential settlers are ready to resettle Gaza at any moment’.
Last October, Weiss said during a press conference that the Nahala movement had established 6 settlement blocs comprising 700 families, ready to establish new settlements in Gaza if the opportunity arose. “We came here to settle the entire Gaza Strip from north to south, not just part of it,”as she explained to the participants, to this end, Weiss expressed her support for expelling the two million residents of Gaza.
Minister of Finance and Minister of Settlement in the Army Ministry, Smotrich, is working in the same -dir-ection, saying that Israel could occupy the Gaza Strip and reduce its population by half within two years, in a clear call to expel the Palestinians from the Strip. This came during his participation in a conference of the Yesha Council of West Bank and Gaza Settlements, which was held last Monday and discussed the issue of imposing Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank amid expectations of expected support from the administration of incoming US President Trump.
Last Saturday, settlers in Hebron held a religious celebration in and around the Ibrahimi Mosque, attended by thousands of settlers, including ministers and MKs Itamar Ben-Gvir, Orit Struck, Bezalel Smotrich, Zeev Elkin and Gila Gamliel. Changing the status quo at the Ibrahimi Mosque was “the talk of the town among politicians,” knowing that ministers and MKs from the coalition parties are planning to change the status quo at the Ibrahimi Mosque and turn it into a Jewish “national heritage site” similar to the status of the Buraq Plaza, hoping to get support from American officials in the incoming Donald Trump administration.
Accordingto a report on the Zman Yisrael News wWbsite on Wednesday, quoted head of the Kiryat Arba local council, Yisrael Bramson, as saying that the ministers told us that there would be many surprises in the near future. They promised important developments. He added that the committee formed under the chairmanship of former Supreme Court President Judge Meir Shamgar to investigate the massacre at the Ibrahimi Mosque carried out by the butcher Baruch Goldstein in 1994, “decided to make arrangements after Goldstein’s massacre. They wanted to hold the Jews accountable after everything that happened.
MK Zvi Sukkot too, from the Religious Zionism Party is demanding a change in the status quo at the Ibrahimi Mosque and the prayer arrangements there that were decided upon following the massacre carried out by the butcher Goldstein. Sukkot is leading the deliberations on this as chairman of the West Bank Affairs Committee, a branch of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs Committee, toured last week the Ibrahimi Mosque accompanied by officers from the Israeli army and the occupation’s ‘Civil Administration’ unit.
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
o Publishing a picture simulating the alleged construction of the temple on the ruins of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The publication of the picture comes within the framework of incitement against the Mosque, including a siege and large-scale raids, coinciding with the prevention of entry of worshipers and the removal of guards during the raids. Far-right settler groups known as ‘Temple Mount Activists’ had previously published a video clip modified using artificial intelligence on their account, showing a large fire in the Dome of the Rock and inside and around the walls of Al-Aqsa Mosque. They republished the video again and commented on it with the phrase ‘soon in these days.’
o Hunging demolition orders in the Al-Bustan Neighborhood, Silwan for homes belonging to the Abu Shafe family, and gave them 14 days to evacuate them.
o Demolishing 2 houses agricultural facilities in northwest Jerusalem, between the towns of Beit Anan and Beit Liqya on the ‘Khunideq’ road, belonging to citizens Jamil Moh’d Rabi and An ad Daoud Hamid.
Hebron:
o Attacking citizens in Masafer Yatta from the village of Al-Mufaqara and abused them. A group of settlers had stolen a vehicle from in front of a house in the Huwara area of Masafer Yatta, while the occupation forces seized several vehicles from the towns of Dura and Yatta.
o Storming the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron after the occupation forces closed the mosque to Muslim worshipers under the pretext of Jewish holidays.
o Storming the Islamic Cemetery and the streets of the Old City in the center of Hebron, the Jaber, Tel Rumeida and Al-Sahla Neighborhoods, and organized a provocative march that started from the ‘Kiryat Arba settlement’ and from the settlement outposts in the center of the city, and threw stones at citizens homes and chanted racist slogans against Arabs, most notably ‘Death to Arab’.
Bethlehem:
o Closing the main street in the Hussan village, which passes through the areas of Al-Shorfa, Al-Matinah and Al-Mashahid, and prevented the movement of vehicles and citizens, as well as firing tear gas and sound bombs, while settlers uprooted olive trees in the ‘Khalayel Al-Loz’ area.
Ramallah:
o Bulldozing an agricultural room and fences in the Deir Dibwan town in the ‘Abu Sharif area’ located between the towns of Barqa and Deir Dibwan, belonging to the citizen Rashad Saud.
o Seizing the house of the citizen Wahid Abu Naim in the village of Al-Mughayyir and turned it into a military barracks and raised the occupation flag on its roof.
o Setting fire to olive trees, while the settlers cows destroyed olive trees in the Al-Maghribat area of theMarj Azral area near the Sinjil town.
Nablus:
o Injuring a 32 years old man by the occupation forces bullets following an attack carried out by settlers on the outskirts of the Al-Dhobat Neighborhood in the Beit Furik town, where settlers attacked citizens homes under the protection of the occupation army and the residents confronted them, which led to the outbreak of clashes in the area.
o Cutting down about 50 olive trees in Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya village, in lands located near the road connecting Ramallah and Nablus, while others attacked homes in the Al-Ara ra community east of Duma and assaulted citizens and forced them out of their homes.
o Notifying 10families in Khirbet Al-Tawil, in the Aqraba town to demolish their homes and sheep pens during the coming week.
o Attacking farmers while they were picking olives in the Khallet Al-Musa area north of the Salim village, assaulted them, destroyed the olive crop and bags, and stole their olive picking machine.
Qalqilia:
o Notifying stop construction in 10 agricultural rooms east of Qalqilyi in the eastern area of the village of Jayyous, belonging to citizens. Rashid Salim, Mah’d Saeed, Mudar Ibrahim, Mohd Muqbil, Abdul Rahim Fayeq, Moaz Muqbil, Moh’d Daoud, Iyad Khaled, Abdullah Bayda, and Abdul Kreik Al-Helou, under the pretext of building without a permit in Area C.
Salfeet:
o Smashing a vehicle belonging to citizen Mujahid Radi Atiyani while he was picking olives in the Al-Mahawar area in the Yasuf town, and cut down about 100 olive trees from citizens’ lands, some of which were 70-80 years old, and some about 10 years old, in the Al-Mushrifah area north of the village. Cut down citrus trees and destroyed their fruits.
o Attacking the ‘orchard’ of farmer Abdul Razzaq Mansour in the Al-Bassa area and broke lemon and orange trees and destroyed their fruitsin the Wadi Qana area west of the Deirstiya town.
o Stealing olives and an electric harvesting machine from the ‘Banat al-Bar’ area in the lands of the Kafr ad-Dik town, and cut and broke 60 olive trees owned by citizen Mujahid Radi Atiyani and smashed the windows of his vehicle.
o Detaining citizen Baha Samara and the workers. who work with him while they were harvesting olives from his land near the ‘Rafafa’ settlement in the Haris town.
Jordan Valley:
o Blocking a watercourse by settlerws in the Auja Spring with stones that is a main source of irrigation and drinking water for Bedouin Communities and farmers there.
o Bringing dozens of cows to Khallet Hamad in al-Hamma, near the tents of Palestinian citizens. A settler truck also brought equipment for the construction of a residential facility.
o Seizing agricultural aid provided to citizens by the -dir-ectorate of Agriculture. In the al-Burj area in the northern Jordan Valley, the occupation forces also demolished 2 brick residential rooms belonging to citizen Radi Khalil ZawahraIn Khirbet al-Farisiya, while settlers stormed Khirbet Humsa al-Tahta and began photographing the residents facilities and checking their identities, seized citizens property, including a solar energy system and a trailer.

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