Shin Bet chief David Zini has nixed field agents’ advice to place certain Jewish extremists in administrative detention amid a surge of attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, Hebrew media reported Tuesday.

Suspects identified by security services can be held in administrative detention for months on end with no trial. The tool is typically used against Palestinians when there is not enough evidence for a regular arrest warrant.

Use of administrative detention against Jews has always been negligible. Defense Minister Israel Katz halted it entirely upon taking office in November 2024 — amid a massive surge in settler attacks on Palestinians — and recently clashed with an IDF general who sought to extend a restraining order against a Jewish terror suspect.

Despite Katz’s directive, Shin Bet field agents — especially from a unit tasked with countering extremist Jewish violence — have “over the past few months” recommended that Zini place several Jewish extremists in administrative detention, Channel 13 said, citing Shin Bet and law enforcement sources.

But Zini is convinced that Jewish extremism can be contained through other means, and that the Shin Bet’s so-called Jewish Department sometimes harasses........

© The Times of Israel