Without trial, Without proof: Israeli filmmaker held by Shin Bet for 5 months 

Filmmaker Avraham Shapira, who was administratively detained for five months on the orders of former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, was interviewed on Channel 14's "The Patriots" program on Sunday.

Shapira, recently released from detention, shared the story of his arrest: "It started when I went out to photograph a shepherd on a farm in the Hebron Hills, at 4 a.m. At the gate of the settlement of Yitzhar in Samaria, I was arrested, ISA (Shin Bet) detectives and Special Patrol Unit personnel jumped on me, surrounded me, put handcuffs. A Shin Bet agent comes up and says, 'It's not a joke, this time it's the Shin Bet.' I didn't know what he was talking about because it was my first arrest."

According to him, the interrogation itself was brief: "After a body search and waiting, I was put in for interrogation. Within 50 minutes, information about Arab villages and foreign dates were thrown at me, and the event is behind us. I told them that it was a shame they didn't pick up the phone – I would have come and told what was needed."

He described the continued detention: "I was in the cell for a whole day. In the evening I ask what time it is already 7-8 and they don't bring me up for discussion, they don't talk to me. They put with two boys I didn't know. Everyone was waiting. We were told that Gallant had to leave the Cabinet and sign an administrative detention. And then – boom – they read you a page: name, ID card, 'danger to national security,' detention for six months. I was in shock."

Shapira referred to his films: "I make films about the settlements, about the hilltop youth, about the Shin Bet – things they don't want to hear. The film talks about the conduct of this body, about the agenda of the heads of the Shin Bet, who have been trying to promote a Palestinian state for decades. The Jewish platoon is the tip of the iceberg where you can see the axe falling."