A political firestorm is brewing over Central Command chief Avi Bluth’s handling of restrictions and the detention of Tal Yinon Dardik, a 28-year-old father of four. Prominent Knesset members have launched a coordinated attack on Bluth, accusing him of abusing his authority and using a “back door” to circumvent Defense Minister Israel Katz’s directive to end the use of administrative detention against Jewish residents.
2+MK Ariel Kellner called the situation “an intolerable reality” and demanded urgent intervention from the political leadership.
“I’m calling on the defense minister—you stopped administrative detentions, but the army is exploiting all kinds of loopholes to use administrative measures simply to remove people from their homes. This must stop. I ask for your swift intervention to end this injustice.”
After visiting Dardik in detention, MK Limor Son Har Melech also sharply criticized Bluth, accusing him of conducting “a campaign of abuse and persecution” against the farmer.
“This is an unacceptable reality: they create conditions a person cannot meet, then punish him for failing to meet them. This is not how a state governed by the rule of law operates—this is what abuse through draconian powers looks like. I’m calling on the defense minister to stop this dangerous conduct by General Bluth. We cannot allow security powers to be used to persecute citizens.”
2+MK Avichai Boaron expressed deep shock over Dardik’s detention conditions and called on the relevant authorities to act immediately to ensure he receives a fair trial.
“This cannot happen in a democratic state in 2026. I’m asking everyone responsible to do everything necessary to ensure his rights are fully upheld—he should have the opportunity to stand trial, face criminal proceedings, and receive all the rights afforded to every person in Israel. It cannot be that someone with a kippah and long sidelocks is subjected to such harsh, draconian detention under such extreme conditions.”
MK Zvi Sukkot also condemned Dardik’s detention, arguing that the use of administrative measures against civilians is fundamentally improper.
“Administrative orders of any kind against citizens are an anti-democratic tool that has no place in a proper state except in the most exceptional cases as part of the war on terror. The widespread use of administrative orders over many years against right-wing activists—while no comparable administrative tools are used against crime families in Israel—is a crying injustice and an example of selective enforcement.”
2+MK Tally Gotliv also criticized the Shin Bet’s Jewish Division and Bluth.
“The defense minister canceled administrative detentions of Jews, but through the back door, Central Command chief Bluth is making draconian use of his authority by readily imposing house arrests in other locations. This is a slippery slope. What does the command have against the Jewish public in Judea and Samaria? How easily human rights are being trampled.”
Dardik, who is represented by attorneys from the Honenu legal aid organization, was initially placed under a restrictive administrative order requiring him to spend several months under full house arrest at his mother-in-law’s home—a widowed, deaf woman who was entirely unable to accommodate him. According to his attorneys, the security authorities never consulted her or obtained her consent before imposing the detention conditions.
Dardik argued that the restrictions made it impossible for him to maintain his religious lifestyle and requested an alternative location, but his request was denied.
After he was unable to comply with the conditions of the order, he was arrested for allegedly violating a lawful order. According to his attorneys, he is now being held in detention without a fixed end date, without disclosure of the evidence against him, and without criminal charges or a trial. Upon entering detention, Dardik began a hunger strike, which he later escalated into a thirst strike.