IDF said to pan Shin Bet for refusing to take settler violence seriously

A senior military official tells Channel 12 that the Shin Bet is failing to take settler violence seriously, as attacks across the West Bank continue on a daily basis with almost complete impunity.

There is a dedicated department within the Shin Bet whose job is to thwart such violence, but the military official says that this “Jewish Division” has been “doing very little — the minimum.”

“Someone wants the Jewish Division to be weak. They’re not providing us with intelligence or early warnings,” the military official tells Channel 12.

The official reiterates that the situation in the West Bank is on the verge of spiraling out of control, with more and more illegal outposts being established by settlers.

Five new outposts were established in the central West Bank just in the last week, and the IDF is struggling to secure all of these different communities and prevent confrontations between settlers and Palestinians.

Each outpost that is demolished is rebuilt immediately afterward. Just in the last year, outposts were demolished only to be quickly rebuilt 160 different times, the military official tells Channel 12.

The official notes the upcoming olive harvest season, which regularly sees settlers trying to prevent Palestinians from accessing their lands.

“It seems that there are those who prefer that the current situation continues,” the official says, lamenting efforts by far-right politicians to negatively influence the situation on the ground.

The official says ultra-nationalist rabbis are also issuing directives allowing settlers to drive on Shabbat to participate in raids of Palestinian villages, as was seen last week in the northern West Bank town of Qusra.

Soldiers who were supposed to be resting or training are instead being deployed to the West Bank to try and prevent clashes between extremist settlers and Palestinians, the official adds.