MEE Staff
Middle East Eye / August 23, 2024
Ronen Bar wrote to Netanyahu warning that Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s actions in Al-Aqsa could ‘lead to bloodshed’.
Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar has warned that increasingly overt settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank is wreaking “indescribable damage” on Israel, changing it “beyond recognition”.
In a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant that was published by Channel 12 News on Thursday, Bar took aim at National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, warning that his incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque could “lead to bloodshed.”
Ben-Gvir has led repeated raids on Al-Aqsa compound in occupied East Jerusalem, 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 government’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 country’s leaders.
Bar said that ratcheting settler attacks has resulted in Israel’s “global delegitimization,” adding additional strain on security forces 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 the State 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 government’s main goals before it’s too late,” he added.
Spin
In response, Ben-Gvir reportedly stormed out of a cabinet meeting on Thursday when Netanyahu refused to back him.
Gallant backed Bar’s letter, saying that Ben-Gvir’s “irresponsible actions… endanger national security and create division in the nation”.
In a statement, Ben-Gvir’s office accused Bar of “trying to create spin and attack minister Ben-Gvir to deflect from the discussion of his responsibility for the concepts and failures that led to 7 October.”
Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.
Settlers regularly carry out attacks against Palestinians in the occupied territory, often under Israeli military protection.
These attacks have increased following the outbreak of the war on Gaza.
Despite occasional condemnations by Israeli officials, leading human rights organizations have said on several occasions that Israel was responsible for the increase in violence in the territory.
