Israeli lawmaker Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism Party) on Sunday denounced the detention without charges of a documentary filmmaker who was working on an expose of alleged injustices committed by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), the HaKol HaYehudi news outlet reported.
With regard to Israeli citizens, administrative arrests must be used “in the most limited way,” said Rothman after visiting Avraham Shapira at Rimonim Prison in the central town of Even Yehuda.
“Surely and especially when it concerns the administrative arrest of a journalist who is working on a documentary about the Shin Bet, this cannot be done lightly, as was apparently done in this case,” he added.
“The law that I proposed, which will be brought up for discussion in the [Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice] Committee this Wednesday, will prevent these administrative arrests and force the Shin Bet to engage exclusively in its initial role: To fight the enemies of the State of Israel,” the Israeli coalition lawmaker continued.
Shapira, a father of four from Yitzhar in Samaria, was arrested on Aug. 22 and confined to administrative detention on the orders of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Channel 14 revealed in September.
At the time of his arrest, Shapira had been working on “an investigation about the activities of the ISA in the 1990s, including embarrassing affairs for the ISA such as the use of instigator agents, the use of [undercover agent] Avishai Raviv among the settlers and other stories that will shake the country,” his lawyer said.
The Israel Film & Television Directors Guild and Israel Documentary Forum, which represent the vast majority of the Jewish state’s film professionals, have urged Gallant to cancel Shapira’s detention.
Responding to criticism, the Shin Bet on Sept. 9 issued a statement claiming Shapira is a “violent and extreme activist involved in directing hilltop youth and young men to carry out violent activities” in Samaria.
His arrest was not connected to his documentary project, but due to suspicion that he had participated in “the terrorist events in Kfar Jit on Aug. 15, during which a Palestinian was murdered and four houses were set on fire,” according to the ISA. Kfar Jit is located five miles northwest of Yitzhar, south of Nablus.
Following his arrest, Shapira “did not cooperate, and in the absence of a criminal [prosecution] alternative, it was decided to put him under administrative arrest due to the great danger of his continued activity,” the agency said. “The false claim that Shapira was arrested for being a ‘film director’ is unfounded.”
Jerusalem asserts that administrative detention is necessary to prevent attacks or to detain dangerous terror suspects without sharing evidence that could endanger vital intelligence sources. Since Gallant took office in December 2022, the use of administrative detention against Jewish Israelis has reached an all-time high, right-wing groups have claimed.
Last week, Gallant approved the administrative detention for six months of 19-year-old Eliyakim Harel, a resident of the Binyamin region of Samaria, marking the 29th such order since the defense minister took office in late 2022. In the 74 years preceding Gallant’s tenure, a total of 25 Israelis were held without charges, according to HaKol HaYehudi.
