Israeli-Arab violence: Will all hell break loose with Shin Bet's involvement? - analysis

• Published date: 03 October 2021
• Author: YONAH JEREMY BOB
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

After this example of injecting the agency into domestic issues, along with using its counter-terror tools to track the coronavirus wave, will the intelligence unit next be foisted into other crises and start dealing with citizens' finances and start infringing on other personal liberties?

Part of the controversy is that the Israeli-Arab sector itself is bitterly split on this issue.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

>

On the one hand, there is Jamal Hachrush, the top Police official for handling Israel-Arab affairs who openly pushed for bringing the Shin Bet into the picture in an interview with Yediot Ahronot this past weekend.

Similarly, Minister for Regional Cooperation and Israeli-Arab Meretz member Esawi Frej called on the Shin Bet to get involved in a separate interview with Yediot this past weekend.

In contrast, the Joint List and Adalah, the leading Israeli-Arab human rights NGO, are condemning the government's decision as a cynical conspiracy to militarize and oppress Israeli-Arab villages.

Curiously, Ra'am's Knesset contingent has been deafeningly silent about the decision.

This is a recipe for disaster because the second anything goes wrong (even if some of the process goes right), the Joint List will claim its conspiracy is proven and Ra'am will likely switch from silence to condemnation.

And critics of the move are not only in the Israeli-Arab sector.

Just last week, former attorney-general Yehuda Weinstein told The Jerusalem Post that he opposed involving the Shin Bet in domestic issues since it would be a slippery slope with unpredictable consequences.

Instead, he recommended a mix of significantly improved education and increased police presence and enforcement for the Arab sector as part of a mix of short and long-term strategies.

PART OF what is interesting about Weinstein is that he is not even part of the liberal camp of the legal establishment.

Weinstein was and is generally ready to endorse most security moves the government makes regardless of sometimes universal criticism by the world human rights community and many Western Israeli allies.

He is a hard-nosed and down-to-earth old school lawyer who is quite comfortable standing by the security establishment.

His opposition therefore signifies that a majority of the legal establishment, even beyond the liberal camp, opposed using the Shin Bet for the current Israeli-Arab violence...