Supreme Court Justice Criticized for Lenient Rulings in Weapons Cases

Israel is intensifying its efforts to combat illegal weapons offenses, with the Knesset, police, prosecution, and courts all working to impose harsher penalties and pre-trial detention. However, Supreme Court Justice Khaled Kabub has drawn criticism for repeatedly releasing defendants accused of serious weapons offenses to alternative detention arrangements, citing what are described as unusual justifications.

In one notable case, a defendant was indicted for acquiring two handguns and ammunition, which he then hid in the homes of family members. One weapon was concealed at his father's residence, and the other was found in a safe at his grandmother's home. The District Court ordered his detention until the end of proceedings, but the defendant appealed to the Supreme Court. Justice Kabub overturned this decision, ordering his release to alternative detention.

Justice Kabub reasoned that since the weapons were not carried by the appellant or found in public, and were instead secured in a locked safe at his grandmother's home, there was no indication of an offensive purpose for their possession. He argued that the possibility of achieving the detention's objective with less harm to the appellant should not be ruled out a priori.

This ruling follows a pattern observed in March, when Justice Kabub reversed a District Court decision to detain a 16-year-old who had consumed ISIS propaganda for two years, learned to build explosives, and planned an attack. While the lower court judge deemed the minor untrustworthy and unsuitable for release, Justice Kabub ordered him to house arrest with electronic monitoring. He justified this by stating the lower court's decision deviated from Supreme Court precedent regarding the principle of non-imprisonment for minors and the consideration of detention as a last resort, also expressing concern about the impact of a secure facility on the minor's development.