Arrested 'price tag' suspect
Arrested 'price tag' suspectFlash 90

In an article published today (Wednesday), the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper presented data suggesting that the continued use administrative detentions against members of the hilltop youth has led to a drastic drop in acts of 'price tag' vandalism, often called "Jewish terror" by the left in order to equate it with Arab terror.

In an Arutz Sheva interview, attorney Itamar Ben Gvir raises some queries about the results published in the article.

"It is very disappointing to see Haaretz writing a propaganda article in favor of administrative detentions. When it refers to Hamas terrorists, Haaretz stands on its hind legs and cries out against these administrative detentions. It is sad to see a PR article in favor of these detentions, and what is even more amazing is that suddenly we have access to the police records in their exact wording."

Attorney Ben Gvir mentions that in the article there is a police record stating that from the beginning of 2016 there was only 'price tag' incident, whereas a UN report counted roughly 60 acts, yet Haaretz chose to highlight the police record which would support the need for administrative detentions.

"I will say this cautiously, when discussing administrative detentions of Jews, Haaretz seems to behave differently" says Ben Gvir, referring to an Arab quoted in the article, who claimed that until recently 'settlers' had been harrying them once or twice a week but after the administrative detentions were implemented things quietened down.

"Without referring to specific statements of complainants whose veracity is doubtful, I have no doubt that there is a decrease in acts of 'Price Tag'. What is this analogous to? If there were an order barring cars from driving on the roads I have no doubt there would be less accidents."

Ben Gvir emphasizes that "price tag" actions are usually graffiti vandalism or other property crimes and not "attacks on human life such as we are experiencing on a daily basis." With regard to such acts the normal way is to file charges and go to court and not to employ unauthorized detention which is used so extensively by the ISS although it knows that in most cases the detainees are innocent. The classic example of this is the youth who was accused based on secret information with having tried to set fire to a church. Now the ISS says that this was a mistake. Who will give him back the months that he languished in jail?

Responding to Ben Gvir's contentions, Yoram Berger, the journalist behind the Haaretz article, said that "Administrative detentions are an undemocratic tactic in my opinion. Yet statistics that we brought this morning demonstrate that they are very effective in curbing terror. Despite this my personal opinion - which may not reflect that of the editorial board - is that they are a very dangerous tactic, both when used against Arabs and against Jews."

"Obviously the police will bring data which serves them. For this very reason we brought other data. But according to all of the statistics there has been a significant drop over the last few months. Yet this does not justify the use of this tactic in my eyes."