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From Reuters:
Spying on Jews challenges Israel's secret service
Tue Dec 9, 2008 7:44am EST
By Dan Williams
KIRYAT ARBA, West Bank (Reuters)
With friction building in the occupied West Bank over the prospect -- albeit distant -- of a Palestinian state, the Shin Bet is quietly knuckling down on Jews who might turn to violence to try to wreck any future peace accord. Militant settler leaders report increased efforts by the Shin Bet's Division for Countering State Subversion, also known as the "Jewish Division," to garner tip-offs about possible plots to kill Arabs or assassinate an Israeli government figure.
"There's a real sense of Shin Bet-phobia nowadays," said Noam Federman, the pamphlet's author and a firebrand settler from Kiryat Arba, near the West Bank town of Hebron.Yet given a recent spree of settler rampages in the West Bank, doubts have been raised in Israel over whether the Shin Bet, criticized internationally for a two-fisted approach to Arab suspects, tends to treat Jews with kid gloves. "Having won the fight against Palestinian terror, the Shin Bet is losing to the far-right," opined Israel's Maariv daily.
Israeli officials deny the Shin Bet discriminates on the basis of race when targeting potential troublemakers. According to settlers and Shin Bet veterans, pressure tactics familiar to Palestinians -- from bribery to ruses to interrogation methods that civil liberties groups decry as torture -- are all available for use against Jewish detainees. But few dispute that Jews are less likely to receive rough treatment, if only because they enjoy sovereign Israeli rights such as access to a lawyer within 48 hours of detention. By contrast, Palestinians can be more readily kept incommunicado for long periods, as the West Bank is under Israeli martial law.
"The Jew feels at home. He thinks he has more rights. He thinks he can run to the Supreme Court," a recently retired Shin Bet chief interrogator told Reuters on condition of anonymity. So, statistically, the moment you apply physical pressure on Jews, they get offended and clam up -- not like Arabs."
Recent history suggests the Shin Bet's methods could change with circumstances. The Jewish Division, having devoted decades to tracking communist groups with possible Soviet links, shifted focus to ultranationalists in the 1980s, uncovering a settler plot to bomb Palestinian politicians and a Jerusalem mosque.
Settlers cast out members of their communities deemed to be Jewish Division spies, and are growing more proactive. On Monday, a protest rally was held outside the home of the Jewish Division head, though its location was meant to be secret. We live in a small country, and they should be aware that just like they can find us, we can find them," [A settler] said.
Spying on Jews challenges Israel's secret service
Tue Dec 9, 2008 7:44am EST
By Dan Williams
KIRYAT ARBA, West Bank (Reuters)
With friction building in the occupied West Bank over the prospect -- albeit distant -- of a Palestinian state, the Shin Bet is quietly knuckling down on Jews who might turn to violence to try to wreck any future peace accord. Militant settler leaders report increased efforts by the Shin Bet's Division for Countering State Subversion, also known as the "Jewish Division," to garner tip-offs about possible plots to kill Arabs or assassinate an Israeli government figure.
"There's a real sense of Shin Bet-phobia nowadays," said Noam Federman, the pamphlet's author and a firebrand settler from Kiryat Arba, near the West Bank town of Hebron.Yet given a recent spree of settler rampages in the West Bank, doubts have been raised in Israel over whether the Shin Bet, criticized internationally for a two-fisted approach to Arab suspects, tends to treat Jews with kid gloves. "Having won the fight against Palestinian terror, the Shin Bet is losing to the far-right," opined Israel's Maariv daily.
Israeli officials deny the Shin Bet discriminates on the basis of race when targeting potential troublemakers. According to settlers and Shin Bet veterans, pressure tactics familiar to Palestinians -- from bribery to ruses to interrogation methods that civil liberties groups decry as torture -- are all available for use against Jewish detainees. But few dispute that Jews are less likely to receive rough treatment, if only because they enjoy sovereign Israeli rights such as access to a lawyer within 48 hours of detention. By contrast, Palestinians can be more readily kept incommunicado for long periods, as the West Bank is under Israeli martial law.
"The Jew feels at home. He thinks he has more rights. He thinks he can run to the Supreme Court," a recently retired Shin Bet chief interrogator told Reuters on condition of anonymity. So, statistically, the moment you apply physical pressure on Jews, they get offended and clam up -- not like Arabs."
Recent history suggests the Shin Bet's methods could change with circumstances. The Jewish Division, having devoted decades to tracking communist groups with possible Soviet links, shifted focus to ultranationalists in the 1980s, uncovering a settler plot to bomb Palestinian politicians and a Jerusalem mosque.
Settlers cast out members of their communities deemed to be Jewish Division spies, and are growing more proactive. On Monday, a protest rally was held outside the home of the Jewish Division head, though its location was meant to be secret. We live in a small country, and they should be aware that just like they can find us, we can find them," [A settler] said.
