Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Monday night signed an administrative detention order for four months against 28-year-old Iyad Hassuna from Lod, who is suspected of involvement in the shooting of a Jew during recent riots in the city, Kan 11 News reported on Tuesday.
The move to issue an administrative arrest warrant against an Israeli Arab following a disturbance is an unusual one. This has happened so far in isolated cases against several residents of eastern Jerusalem and one from Umm al-Fahm, all with a security criminal background.
Hassuna, however, has no such past. He was arrested two days after the shooting and was detained for six days. He was then remanded in custody for three weeks and then released to a two-week house arrest.
A hearing on the order will be held in court on Wednesday. The president of the Lod District Court, Ruth Lorch, will decide whether to leave the order in place, shorten it or release Hassuna.
Earlier this week it was announced that the Israel Police and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) have made good progress in identifying and locating the murderers of Lod resident Yigal Yehoshua, who was killed by an Arab mob during Operation Guardian of the Walls.
In recent weeks, six Arab residents of Lod have been arrested in connection with Yehoshua’s murder, as well as two Palestinian Arabs. Seven of the eight have been indicted for murder and other offenses.
It has emerged from the Shin Bet and police interrogations that the accused men made a decision to launch murderous attacks on Jews for nationalist motivations. The eight men currently in detention erected improvised barriers and also used large boulders and garbage canisters to block one of Lod’s streets, and then lay in wait for Jewish-owned vehicles to arrive so that they could pelt them with stones and rocks.