Shin Bet accuses Israel police of ignoring dangers of Jewish terror as rift between authorities deepens

Houses and vehicles damaged by Jewish settlers in Duma in the West Bank, April 2024

Josh Breiner reports in Haaretz on 13 October 2024:

The Shin Bet division in charge of Jewish terror has been claiming in closed door arguments that the Police’s Central Unit in Judea and Samaria is failing to deal with violent settlers and rightist extremists in the West Bank, leading to a rift between the two authorities.

Shin Bet officials say the unit’s commander, Commander Avishai Mualem, denies the increase in Jewish terror in the West Bank and does not respond to security service officials from the Jewish terror division when they attempt to contact him.

Until recent years, the police’s Judea and Samaria unit collaborated with the Shin Bet. The latter would pass on intelligence on right-wing Jewish extremist and terrorist networks in the West Bank, and the police acted as its enforcing authority there.

The unit arrested suspects tagged by the Shin Bet as being involved in Jewish terrorism, issued administrative restraining orders and conducted interrogations of suspected terrorists.

However, in recent weeks, the two sides have met only when a third party, such as the Justice Ministry, calls for a meeting.

Defense establishment sources said that after a string of incidents in which the Judea and Samaria unit refused to cooperate with the Shin Bet in regard to Jewish terror suspects – including a refusal to send officers to assist with arrests – the security service began collaborating with the Border Police. In the West Bank, the Border Police is subordinate to the Israel Defense Forces’ Central Command.

Several defense establishment sources said that “when Mualem talks, it’s like you can hear Ben-Gvir talking.” They said that in practice, the Judea and Samaria unit – which has a team dedicated to addressing Jewish terror and nationalist criminal activity – almost never makes arrests, does not monitor Shin Bet suspects or collects intelligence on them.

Even before Mualem took command, a few months before collaboration with the Shin Bet was broken off, the police unit had been only conducting limited operations and only when against suspects it chose to pursue, not necessarily those identified by the Shin Bet. In recent weeks, however, virtually no arrests have been made.

A high-level source in the defense establishment said that in conversations, police officials indicated that they regarded Jewish terror as a marginal issue and do not think it would lead to a significant escalation in the West Bank.  However, the source said, Shin Bet figures point to a dramatic rise in the phenomenon, and the service estimates that it has a direct impact on Palestinian terror.

Senior officials in the defense establishment and in the judicial system blame Mualem, who was first appointed to the position a year ago. He was recently nominated by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to be promoted to brigadier general and serve as the head of the intelligence branch of the Investigations and Intelligence Department, considered a key position in the police.

Mualem met with Ben-Gvir two weeks ago and said he was interested in accepting the job.  Since Mualem was promoted to his current post, the Judea and Samaria unit has undergone a major shift.

The number of arrests of Jewish terror suspects in the year under his command is about half the number it was the previous year, even as data provided by the Shin Bet to the Justice Ministry shows the number of incidents has risen by tens of percent.

“The Judea and Samaria central unit doesn’t exist when it comes to Jewish terror,” said a high-level Justice Ministry official. “They only act when they have no choice, for example, when an incident has been filmed.”  He added that it “It’s embarrassing to see the IDF and the Shin Bet talking about a growing phenomenon, and suddenly the police are talking about a decline or a non-existent phenomenon. They’re ignoring the danger of Jewish terrorism.”

In July, a senior official in the Judea and Samaria unit was quoted by Channel 7 as declaring, “We are no longer an arm of the Shin Bet.”

Several sources told Haaretz that time after time in closed-door discussions, Mualem blamed violent attacks on “anarchists from Tel Aviv,” who he said were fanning the flames, mainly in the South Mount Hebron area.  The sources said the figures Mualem presented to the Knesset in recent months and in internal security deliberations do not match those of the Shin Bet.  They also blamed the Judea and Samaria unit lack of handling of extreme right-wing activists as what led the Biden administration to impose sanctions on settlers.

The Shin Bet said in response that the service and the Israel Police “maintain a close cooperation in all arenas and districts. To the extent that there are professional differences of opinion, they are dealt with in interorganizational discussions, and not through the press.”

The Israel Police said in response that “The Judea and Samaria District Police, including the district’s central unit, fully cooperate with all the security agencies in the district, while recognizing the responsibility for maintaining the safety and security of all district residents and enforcing law and order. When professional disputes arise, they are dealt with and resolved in the usual manner.”

“We were sorry to hear about anonymous officials who chose to go to the media instead of solving professional disputes when they think those exist,” the police added.

“The commander of the central unit and his officers are in direct and continuous contact with their peers in the Shin Bet and the IDF, and participate regularly in meetings held on the subject in question, which are also attended by officials from the State Prosecutor’s Office, who liaise closely with the central unit. The Judea and Samaria District unit will continue to operate in combination with all the security and enforcement agencies,” they concluded.

This article is reproduced in its entirety