Wife of Detained West Bank Settler on Hunger Strike Demands End to Administrative Orders

Tal Dradik, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Kfar Tapuach and father of four, has been detained for two days after refusing to comply with an administrative order issued by Central Command Chief Avi Blot. The order required him to remain under house arrest for six months at his mother-in-law’s home. Since his detention, Dradik has been on a hunger strike.

His wife, Miriam Dradik, sharply criticized the defense establishment’s handling of the case in a video statement. She described the order as "shocking," highlighting that her husband was imprisoned just a week and a half after she gave birth. The administrative order demanded that Tal stay at her mother’s house, who is severely hearing impaired and lives alone in a small 60-square-meter apartment. They rejected the order as unfeasible and informed Avi Blot, who refused to allow house arrest at their own home. Consequently, Tal was arrested last Monday for violating the order, charged, and is now held until the end of legal proceedings.

Miriam called the order "draconian and oppressive," questioning the justification for detaining a father of four, including a two-week-old infant, without a criminal record, evidence, or trial. She urged Defense Minister Yoav Kitz and others to halt the use of such administrative orders, emphasizing their role in protecting thousands of dunams of land and their mission as settlers.

Attorney Moshe Polsky from the Honenu organization, representing Dradik, stated that the order was issued without proper authority, discretion, or factual investigation. He argued that the Central Command Chief is not authorized to impose house arrest at a third party’s residence and that no consent was sought from the mother-in-law. Polsky described the order as persecution and an abusive use of the law against settlers.