Naftali Bennett
Naftali BennettIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Economy Minister and Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett on Friday demanded answers from Public Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch (Likud-Yisrael Beytenu) about the brutal arrest of Yitzhar resident Boaz Albert.

Albert had visited his home in Yitzhar, in Samaria (Shomron), despite an administrative order distancing him from the region. Under laws remaining from the time of the British Mandate, security forces can use administrative orders to hold suspects or distance them from certain areas, without explanation and without trial.

Police burst into the home and dragged Albert out by force, shocking him several times with a taser as they did so.

In a video of the incident Albert can be heard pleading with police to stop shocking him, saying, “I’m not resisting,” while one of his children screams in the background.

"I saw the pictures and they are very disturbing,” Bennett said on Friday. “I intend to demand clarification from the Minister of Public Security. I'm surprised by the extra motivation when it comes to a brutal break-in to a family home with children. Things could have been handled differently. These are images that are unworthy of a democratic country.”

Arutz Sheva has learned that Minister Aharonovitch is out of the country and that Bennett’s office tried to get in touch with him all day on Friday for the purpose of obtaining clarifications about Albert’s arrest.

On Friday afternoon, the Petach Tikva Magistrate’s Court ordered Albert released, but with restrictive conditions.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)