Ahuvia Sandak, z”l, was tragically killed in a police-car chase in December 2020. The police car collided with the car Sandak was in with four other boys, causing it to overturn. The boys have been indicted for various charges. Honenu Attorney David HaLevi, who is representing one of the boys, petitioned the Jerusalem Magistrates Court to cancel his indictment because of claims of abuse of process. The petition itemizes how the Yehuda and Shomron Police and the Police Investigation Unit corrupted the investigation of the incident and attempted to blame Sandak’s death on his friends.

Attorney HaLevi cited how the PIU and the police handled the investigation together, despite the inherent conflict of interest: The PIU is the authority responsible for investigating police officers. He further explained how the State Attorney and the Attorney General arrived at the scene of the incident to silence public rage over the cover-up of the failures in the investigation.

Attorney HaLevi: “This outrageous case should never have been opened, and now it should be closed. Therefore, we petitioned the court with a reasoned request to cancel the indictment because of abuse of process. I sincerely hope that the court will agree to our request and put an end to the very injustice of prosecuting my client.”

Ahuvia Sandak, z”l, was killed on 6 Tevet, 5781 (December 21, 2020). Honenu has been representing the family and defending the many who are detained while demonstrating for a change in police behavior. Please click here for a list of posts connected to the case.

DM signs five administrative orders on holiday eve

On April 28, Yehuda and Shomron Police officers detained five Yehuda and Shomron residents who took part in searches for Binyamin Ahimeir, Hy”d, who was murdered while grazing a flock of sheep near the Malachei HaShalom farm in the Binyamin region. Some of the detainees are married and have children. The youngest is a 16-year-old minor. Later in the day, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signed administrative detention orders against all five residents. The orders are for three, four, and six months. Honenu Attorneys Adi Keidar, Daniel Shimshilashvili, Shalom Ben-Shabbat, and Nati Rom are representing the detainees. The previous week, in a 4:00 AM raid, police forces detained eight residents on similar suspicions. All of them were released several hours later.

Honenu Director Shmuel (Zangi) Meidad strongly criticized the orders: “The current Israeli government broke a historical record for serving Jews with administrative orders. And this is during one of the toughest wars Israel has fought. The deafening silence of politicians in the nationalist camp in response to Defense Minister Gallant’s irrational actions only serves to intensify this crime and sends a message to our haters all over the world who, in turn, want to put Minister Gallant himself under administrative detention. Where can we hide our shame?”

On May 9, the Israel Police informed the attorneys representing the Beit El resident detained one week earlier on suspicion of killing a Hamas activist that they would not appeal the decision of the Jerusalem Magistrates Court to release him to his home. Honenu engaged the services of Attorney Ariel Atari and Attorney Asaf Gonen to represent the detainee.

The Israel Police had requested a seven-day remand extension, and they asked the court to delay his release to give them time to appeal the decision.

Attorney Atari reacted to the decision saying: “The [Jerusalem] Magistrates Court ordered the release of the detainee and thereby expressed what we had claimed from the beginning: The Beit El resident suspected of killing a Hamas terrorist is innocent. We expect the GSS to do some soul-searching and direct their energy to interrogating Hamas terrorists, not innocent citizens.”

Attorney Gonen added, “As we claimed from the first moment, there is absolutely no evidential basis for the charges, and certainly not for detention. We thank the court for accepting our claims and exercising judicial review.”

Legal campaign for Israeli citizens under sanctions continues
In February, the governments of several countries, among them the US, the UK, France, and New Zealand imposed sanctions on several Jewish farm owners in Yehuda and Shomron based on claims that they had attacked Arabs. Subsequently, the bank accounts and credit cards of the farmers were frozen. Additionally, France and New Zealand announced that they would bar the entry of several dozen Yehuda and Shomron residents to their countries. In an effort to have the sanctions lifted, Attorney Nick Kaufman has been working on behalf of Honenu with the governments that imposed them.

Attorney Kaufman also wrote a letter to the Israeli Foreign Ministry asking how the government of Israel plans to react to the sanctions, which, in his opinion, are an attack on all Yehuda and Shomron residents. He stated that France and New Zealand did not cite names, and therefore the move is detrimental to all Yehuda and Shomron residents as in the event that they plan a trip, they will not know ahead of time whether or not their entry to those countries will be refused. Attorney Nick Kaufman requested the assistance of Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz in clarifying the identity of the Israeli citizens who are under sanctions.

The ministry replied that newly-appointed Foreign Minister Katz is studying the matter and will issue an appropriate response. Attorney Kaufman expressed satisfaction that the matter is being handled by the highest echelons of the government and hopes that Foreign Minister Katz and the National Security Council will raise the subject with their counterparts in New Zealand and France as soon as possible.

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