The parents of the young man who was released from administrative detention in favor of rehabilitation in a preparatory school hope that the precedent-setting step expresses a change of attitude on the part of the defense establishment toward his fellow Hilltop Youth and seeks to give hope to other parents in a similar situation.
"While we were waiting for him in the waiting room to take him home, they decided that he would go into four months of administrative detention," the mother recalls in an interview with Makor Rishon.
The father stated: "He didn't promise anyone anything, didn't talk about the past, and certainly not about his friends. Nothing binds him. This is the truth. There was a process here that outlined a new way to handle the matter, and I hope it will work out."
The mother: "In Tel Aviv, there are institutions such as 'Beit Shanti' that cater to such boys. There is no equivalent in Judea and Samaria, there is no 'Beit Shanti' for boys from the hills. And we are talking about children. I saw the friends who used to come home with him. They are so young. Children that the yeshiva didn't suit them, and then they moved to another educational framework, and then another and another. We need frameworks that can respond to a child who loves the land, wants to settle and build it, and doesn't get along in the usual frameworks."
The couple's son was arrested about two months ago, not long after the severe attack at the Eli Junction gas station and subsequent incidents of arson and damage to Palestinian property committed by Jews.
He was interrogated by the ISA without meeting with a lawyer, and after a few days, he was released by the Magistrate's Court, which determined that there was no evidence against him. Immediately after that, he was transferred to administrative detention, and then, as mentioned, he was released by the decision of the Minister of Defense for rehabilitation at the Eli Preparatory School.