Israel military issues restraining order against Israeli suspect accused of killing 19-yr-old Palestinian

The Israeli  military issued a six-month administrative restraining order preventing Elisha Yered, one of the main suspects who are accused of killing 19-year-old Palestinian Qusai Jamal Maatan in the West Bank last month, from accessing the region.

According to The Times of Israel, IDF Central Command head, Yehuda Fox, claimed he was convinced that the “weighty security considerations require this and that it was necessary” to ensure the security of the West Bank.

It comes after the Israeli Magistrate’s Court ruled last month that Yared, who lives in the illegal Ramat Migron outpost between Ramallah and Jerusalem, be released from custody and be placed under house arrest.

Moreover, Yered, formerly the spokesperson for the far-right Otzma Yehudit MK, Limor Son Har-Melech, is prohibited from communicating with multiple far-right activists.

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Rights groups have repeatedly highlighted the discrepancy between sentences issued to Israelis and Palestinians. With Palestinian stone throwers receiving up to 20 years in prison – even if they are minors and no damage or injuries have been caused by their actions, while Israelis who murder Palestinians are released within months.

The two extremist Israeli settlers, Elisha Yered and Yehiel Indore were accused of “deliberate or depraved-indifference homicide” in the 4th August shooting of 19-year-old Qusai Maatan.

The United States, whose traditionally close ties with Israel have become strained, has described the incident as a “terror attack by Israeli extremist settlers”.

In response to the six-month administrative restraining order, Yered condemned the order as part of a “campaign of revenge”, claiming “The vindictiveness of the Jewish Department of the Shin Bet and the IDF head of the Central Command, following the collapse of the case they invented and inflated, breaks new records.”

“The more you try to break us and fight us with more predatory means, the more we will continue our activities, and no order or harassment of one kind or another will break us,” he added.

Palestinians said the suspects were part of a group of some 150-200 settlers who threw rocks, torched cars and, when confronted by villagers, shot dead Maatan and wounded several others.

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