Tal Yinon Dardik was released from custody tonight (Tuesday) following a 38-day campaign and hunger strike, after the court ordered his immediate release without any restrictive conditions. However, in a sharp twist, while the administrative order behind his initial arrest was struck down, a new order has already been issued against him.
So what actually happened?
The saga began with an administrative order issued against Dardik by Central Command chief Avi Bluth—no evidence, no trial. Dardik was arrested for allegedly violating the order after he supposedly forced his elderly, deaf, widowed mother-in-law to leave her home against her will. But it was later determined that the order itself was unenforceable, and it was canceled. Despite that, Dardik remained in detention. Even when prosecutors agreed to release him, they wanted to do it with restrictions. His lawyers objected, and today Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court sided with them, ordering his immediate release without conditions.
As far as the fight over the original order goes, that’s the end of the story: Dardik is free and the order is canceled. But in parallel, the Central Command chief issued a new administrative order against him, barring him from Judea and Samaria except for Modi’in Illit. In other words, he’s getting out of detention, but he still can’t just return to normal life, to his home and farm—his livelihood.
A new battle begins?
It’s not yet clear whether Dardik will petition against the new order too, but after the fight over the previous order ended with his unconditional release, it looks like his story is far from over. Bottom line—he’s out of detention, but the battle for the ability to return to his life in Judea and Samaria is probably just beginning. After the court’s decision, attorney Moshe Polsky said: “We welcome the court’s decision ordering his release without any conditions. It was the right call. In our view, he should have been released about two months ago. We already said the administrative order issued against him wasn’t worth the paper it was written on, since there was no legal way to enforce it. The state dragged Tal Yinon through unnecessary legal proceedings, including massive expenditures at taxpayer expense. It was clear to everyone this would be the outcome—that Tal Yinon would be released home without any conditions, because no offense could be attributed to him.”