Rabbi Uri Sherki Demands Immediate Release of Detained Settler Tal Yinon Dradik

Rabbi Uri Sherki, a senior lecturer at the Meir Institute and rabbi of the Beit Yehuda community in Jerusalem's Kiryat Moshe neighborhood, has called for the immediate release of Tal Yinon Dradik. Dradik, a settler in the West Bank, has been held under an administrative detention order issued by Central Command Chief Avi Blot and has been on hunger strike for 28 days in protest of his detention. Rabbi Sherki stated that if Dradik is suspected of criminal offenses, he should be put on trial, but continued detention is immoral and represents blatant discrimination against West Bank settlers compared to other Israeli citizens. He accused the authorities of persecution and demanded urgent action for Dradik's release.

Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that the administrative detention order against Dradik would be canceled and that Dradik would be released. However, contrary to Katz's position, Central Command Chief Avi Blot and the Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office filed an appeal with the Jerusalem District Court against the decision of the Judea and Samaria Appeals Committee, seeking to maintain the administrative detention order. The legal rights organization Honenu criticized this appeal, accusing Blot and the prosecution of opposing the elected government and harming Israeli democracy and governance structures.