Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant has ordered four Jewish settlers to be placed under administrative detention for taking part in recent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.
The move follows international criticism after a wave of attacks by extremist settlers in response to last week’s shooting close to the settlement of Eli, in which four were killed by Palestinian gunmen.
“The four detainees have been involved for years in violent incidents, both open and secret,” a senior security official said.
“In the past, they were detained and restraining orders were issued but, despite this, they have continued their actions,” the official said, adding that the four were behind the torching of several Palestinian homes and cars last week.
Administrative detention, first introduced during the British mandate in Palestine, is a controversial practice allowing terror suspects to be held without trial for prolonged periods. It is rarely used against Jewish suspects but almost 1,000 Palestinians are currently held in administrative detention.
Far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich criticised the administrative detention orders, describing the move as “anti-democratic and morally wrong”.
In the past week, some 100 attacks have taken place by settlers attacking Palestinians, torching homes, cars and fields.
On Tuesday, US secretary of state Antony Blinken called on Israel to do more to combat violence by Jewish settlers in the West Bank against Palestinians.
In a phone conversation with his Israeli counterpart, foreign minister Eli Cohen, he expressed concern about recent events and called on the sides to work together to reduce tension. Mr Cohen strongly condemned the incidents in which Israeli citizens took the law into their own hands and made it clear that the government would take the necessary steps.
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President Yitzhak Herzog condemned the settler violence in a phone call with his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, marking the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.
He emphasised his clear condemnation of the “attack on innocent Palestinians by extremists”.
Mr Gallant had a similar message in a call with Palestinian civil affairs minister Hussein al-Sheikh on Tuesday, marking the first time since the formation of prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition six months ago that an Israeli minister has officially spoken with a Palestinian minister.
At a special meeting of the security cabinet on Tuesday night, Mr Netanyahu told ministers that Israel was losing legitimacy around the world.
Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir attacked what he described as discrimination in the way the authorities deal with different groups involved in violent disturbances.
“Most of them are sweet boys,” he said, referring to the settlers involved in the attacks. “Let’s not get things backward. The people who are getting murdered here are the settlers and the terrorism that needs to be crushed is in [the Palestinian city] Jenin.”
Mr Gallant accused him of paying lip service to the settler violence. “We can’t say: ‘If the Arabs do something, we’re allowed to do it as well,’” he said.
