Civil Administration
Civil AdministrationHillel Maeir

MK Orit Struk (Bayit Yehudi) welcomed on Tuesday the recent report by the State Comptroller, which blamed the Civil Administration, the Israel Police and the IDF for the poor law enforcement in Judea and Samaria.

Speaking to Army Radio, Struk noted that the report revealed that the Civil Administration and the authorities are scared to take action against Palestinian Authority Arabs who flagrantly violate the law in Judea and Samaria, while finding enough courage to take action against Jewish residents.

"I'm glad that the Comptroller exposed the lack of law enforcement in Judea and Samaria due to the military sovereignty in these regions and the lack of coordination between law enforcement agencies," she said.

Struk also revealed in the interview the truth behind the report of Attorney Yehudit Karp, who has for years authored reports presenting Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria as outlaws.

A Ministry of Justice commission headed by Karp determined in 1982 that Jews in Judea and Samaria were given too much freedom to carry and use guns. Subsequent committees curtailed the issuing of gun permits in general.

Karp served for many years as Deputy Attorney General. After her retirement she joined the leadership of the Association for Civil Rights and is also a member of the New Israel Fund and other leftist organizations which regularly lead legal battles against the Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria.

Struk told Army Radio that "Karp testified at the trial of Ezra Nawi, a convicted leftist criminal, and said that one is allowed to break the law if it is for leftist ideologies. She’s the one who authored the tendentious and biased Karp Report. She and her colleagues at the Ministry of Justice have for decades turned all the law enforcement agencies in Judea and Samaria against local Jewish residents and worked to slander them as 'outlaws.'"

MK Struk added, "One should welcome the fact that there is finally an objective report. The State Comptroller's report indicates lack of law enforcement primarily toward Palestinians. The finger is mainly pointed at the law enforcement team in Judea and Samaria whose role is to coordinate between the various law enforcement agencies. This team has decided of its own accord to focus on the ‘settler criminality’ while ignoring all the other areas of law enforcement.”

Before becoming an MK, Struk headed the Yesha Human Rights Organization, which has filed hundreds of complaints against police officers who tended to release their frustrations on Jewish youth in places like Amona and Gush Katif, and it has also pursued criminal and civil cases against dozens of police officers guilty of police brutality. In addition, it has lobbied for and successfully pushed through important legislation that protects the rights of residents of Judea and Samaria.