Rightist minister Ariel: Israel should only use detention without trial in cases of 'ticking bombs'

Agriculture minister told Army Radio that the state mishandled the Allan case.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Uri Ariel (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Uri Ariel
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Israeli politicians reacted on Thursday morning to the High Court of Justice decision to release Palestinian hunger-striker Muhammad Allan from his administrative detention due to his deteriorating medical condition.
Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel told Army Radio on Thursday that he was opposed to the use of administrative detention save for instances in which the suspect could be classified as "a ticking time bomb."
"The State of Israel resorts to the practice of administrative detentions too easily and too often," Ariel said. "It should only be used in cases in which there is an imminent threat of an attack."
Nonetheless, Ariel said that there were many flaws in the manner in which the state handled the situation.
"My problem is not with the High Court of Justice," the minister said. "It's the fact that the representatives of the state don't force-feed him and make sure that [Allan] stays alive."
"They can't find any doctor in the entire country willing to force-feed him," Ariel said. "It boggles the mind. The situation that has been created is more than strange."
In the court ruling, Deputy High Court President Elyakim Rubinstein and justices Hanan Melcer and Neal Hendel held that due to his health situation, Allan’s family members could visit him on an unrestricted basis, as if he were not a detainee.
Nonetheless, the High Court left Allan’s ultimate fate somewhat open, saying that if he wished to transfer from Ashkelon’s Barzilai Medical Center to another hospital, or to otherwise leave custody at some point, he would need to seek the state’s permission.
That could easily result in either Allan or the state petitioning the High Court again over his situation if and when he recovers – though the state might refrain from doing so, since it already offered to free him in November.
Allan's attorney, Kamal Naatur, said that the High Court should've ordered his client released immediately.