The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the Israel Police on Thursday announced that for the first time, they have placed an Israeli citizen from the Bedouin village of Bir Hadaj in the South in administrative detention for an offense traditionally viewed as typical criminal organizational activity, not a national security issue.
The suspect has allegedly played a central role in a drone weapons-smuggling network operating across Israel’s borders, especially the Egyptian-Israeli border.
Defense Minister Israel Katz signed an order approving the use of administrative detention against the suspect despite the fact that not only did he refuse to sign a single administrative detention of a Jewish Israeli, something overwhelmingly supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for 16 of his 17 years in office, but also issued a blanket release of all existing Jewish administrative detainees on January 17 of this year.
Many Israeli defense officials blame part of the escalation of Jewish-Israeli extremist attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank on Katz’s preventing the Shin Bet from using the tool.
There were two main rationales for Katz’s order.
First, legal authorities did not have sufficient evidence that would be usable in court to indict the individual suspect, so, absent administrative detention, he would have been freed.
In national security cases, sometimes the evidence that proves a suspect’s involvement in terror is based on classified technological or human spying, and exposing the evidence in court would cut off future use of the surveillance or endanger the life of the spy.
Second, the drone weapons-smuggling trade, which originated as a mere criminal enterprise, is now sometimes being used by terror groups to increase their weapons supply, including sometimes getting weapons to Hamas.
Additionally, according to the statement, the rise in smuggled weapons into Israel has allowed for a drop in weapons prices, making it easier for terror networks throughout Israel and the Palestinian areas to obtain weapons.
It was unclear how long the suspect would be held for.
A typical minimal administrative detention period would be three to six months, but some more dangerous suspects had been held for two to three years before the Israel-Hamas War.
Since the war, these time periods may have gotten even longer.
IDF stops 130 smuggling drones from Egypt in a month
The IDF managed to stop 130 drone incursions into Israel from Egypt that aimed at smuggling weapons across the border, the military said in November.
Overall, IDF sources said at the time that the army had improved its interception of smuggling efforts by around 50%, which means it is possible that the 130 drones stopped last month were half of 260 or more that made it into Israel, since the 50% is a best guess.
Most of the munitions are produced in Iran or Yemen, according to IDF sources.
IDF sources had expressed hope that more aggressive measures would be taken against Israelis involved with the smuggling, and not only against those trying to smuggle into Israel from Egypt.