Adalah to Appeal the Decision, Claiming Discrimination
The Nazareth District Court held a session on Monday, November 25, 2024, to consider the case of an administrative detention order against a young man from the Nazareth area, who was represented by the Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. The court upheld the administrative detention order issued by Israeli Minister of Security, Israel Katz, on November 23, 2024, which mandated the young man’s detention for six months, despite Katz’s recent announcement to halt administrative arrests for citizens of Israel just days prior.
During its argument before the court, Adalah challenged the decision on principle, opposing administrative detentions in general. The organization also pointed out that Katz’s decision to halt administrative arrests excluded Arab citizens of Israel, while it applied to Jewish settlers. Adalah emphasized that the Minister had avoided providing a clear answer in an interview with Israeli Channel 12 about whether the decision applied to Arab citizens, and he refused to compare “Palestinian attackers” with “Jewish settlers,” implying that the decision did not include Arabs.
Adalah argued that Minister Katz continues to apply administrative detention to Arab citizens based on security justifications, while Jewish settlers are exempted from such measures. The organization described this as discriminatory, reflecting a disparity in the assessment of security threats based on ethnic and political identity, which contradicts human rights legal standards and represents a policy of differentiation among citizens based on their ethnic and national backgrounds.
Regarding the arrest, the young man was detained on November 18, 2024, at his home as part of an investigation into security-related suspicions. The detention order, signed by Minister Katz, was based on Article 2 of the Emergency Powers (Detention) Law of 1979, and it stipulated his administrative detention from November 24, 2024, to May 17, 2025, on the grounds of having a “reasonable basis” to protect the state’s and public security.
The District Court justified its approval of the decision based on secret evidence that neither the detainee nor his lawyer had access to, raising concerns about the transparency of the legal process. In this context, Adalah noted that administrative detentions are often used as a tool to pressure Arabs without charging them with specific offenses or providing genuine legal accountability. Courts routinely extend detention periods under the pretext of “state of emergency,” even in the absence of solid evidence.
As a result, Adalah announced its intention to appeal the decision before the Supreme Court, arguing that the administrative detention lacked sufficient evidence. The organization pointed out that the detained young man has no prior security or criminal record and was in the process of preparing his home for marriage, raising questions about the legality and circumstances of his detention.
It is worth noting that in recent times, there has been an increase in the number of administrative arrests of Palestinian Arab youths in Israel, amid a series of racist and discriminatory legislative initiatives targeting the rights of Arab citizens, particularly in the Palestinian interior and Jerusalem.
