Shin Bet chief asks the cabinet to revive administrative detention for Jewish extremists
David Zini told the Security Cabinet on Monday that the measure may have to return in the West Bank — reversing a standing order from the defence minister, and his own earlier position.
Shin Bet Director David Zini told the Security Cabinet on Monday 5 October that ministers must consider reinstating administrative detention against Jewish extremists in the West Bank if other means fail to curb violence, according to the Jerusalem Post and the Times of Israel. JPost reported that the Shin Bet and the IDF jointly called for the measure’s return and for the creation of a settler-violence task force. Arutz Sheva, reporting from a settler-right vantage, noted that the practice had been halted on the orders of Defence Minister Israel Katz — meaning Zini is asking the cabinet to reverse a sitting minister’s standing instruction. The Times of Israel reported that Zini clashed with Settlements Minister Orit Strock over the issue in the room.
Two things make this more than a procedural dispute. The first is the reversal: by the Times of Israel’s reporting in early August, Zini had himself vetoed a call from his own agents on the same question barely two months ago. The second is the timing. The request lands three weeks before a national vote, in front of a cabinet that includes the ministers most exposed to it, and it asks the security establishment’s political masters to authorise detention without trial of their own constituency. Arutz Sheva’s framing — a measure Katz had stopped, now being pushed by the service — is how the religious-Zionist right is being told to read it.
Assessment: The significance is institutional. Administrative detention is used routinely against Palestinians; the argument is only ever about applying it to Jewish Israelis, which is why each attempt becomes a test of who controls the Shin Bet’s discretion. Zini was appointed as a figure the coalition trusted, and he is now asking that coalition to overrule its own defence minister — either the operational picture has deteriorated sharply since August, or the service is positioning itself ahead of a government that may not be the same one in November. Expect no cabinet decision before 27 October. Silence here is a decision.