Shin Bet: Settler Violence Doing ‘Indescribable Damage’ to Israel

Date: 25 August 2024 - 22:49

News ID: ۱۳۰۷۵۷

WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar has warned that increasingly overt settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank is wreaking “indescribable damage” on the Zionist regime, changing it “beyond recognition”.
In a letter to Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu an d war minister Yoav Gallant that was published by Channel 12 News, Bar took aim at hardline minister Itamar Ben Gvir, warning that his incursions into Al-Aqsa mosque could “lead to bloodshed.”
Ben Gvir has led repeated raids on the Al-Aqsa compound in occupied East Al-Quds, an Islamic site where unsolicited visits, prayers, and rituals by non-Muslims are forbidden according to decades-long international agreements.
In his letter, Bar emphasized that settler violence in the occupied West Bank had become increasingly “widespread and visible,” noting that extremist groups were being armed with weapons “that have been legally distributed by the state”.
He added that the regime’s light-handed approach and “secret” police backing of far-right settler group, Hilltop Youth, who have “long become a widespread phenomenon of violent activity against Palestinians,” is encouraging their actions which he said were tantamount to “terrorism”.
This tacit support, he wrote, has legitimized the movement and meant it has “significantly” expanded, and in so doing, undermined the work of the security forces.
He added that policing the group’s actions was merely a “band aid” and “not the basis for addressing the root of the problem,” emphasizing that this must be achieved by the regime’s leaders.
Bar said that ratcheting settler attacks has resulted in the regime’s “global delegitimization,” adding additional strain on troops and prompting retaliatory attacks by Palestinians.
Bar also took aim at Ben Gvir, citing his recent raid of Al-Aqsa mosque, warning that “developments in this direction will lead to bloodshed and will unrecognizably change the face of Israel”.
“I am convinced that we need an explicit statement that this is wrong and dangerous – morally and for security. We need an inter-ministerial effort to stem the phenomenon. I’m convinced that this needs to be one of the regime’s main goals before it’s too late,” he added.
In response, Ben Gvir reportedly stormed out of a cabinet meeting when Netanyahu refused to back him.