Shin Bet chief said to warn of potential far-right threats against top general in West Bank

Head of the IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox speaks to reporters from the Judea Regional Brigade base near the West Bank city of Hebron, August 21, 2023. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)
Head of the IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox speaks to reporters from the Judea Regional Brigade base near the West Bank city of Hebron, August 21, 2023. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar has reportedly warned that the military’s top commander in the West Bank could be at risk due to threats from the far-right.

According to Channel 12 news, Bar wrote a letter that was sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and all government ministers saying that criticism against Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox “may create a concrete threat to the general’s life and allow him to be harmed.”

“This is led by a few people, but who are extremist and Kahanist,” Bar is quoted as writing, referring to followers of the late extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane.

Bar attributed the intensified criticism of Fox to actions he has led since the Hamas atrocities in southern Israel on October 7 sparked the war in the Gaza Strip, such as the enforcement of administrative orders and collection of guns that were distributed to communal security squads without oversight.

“The steps that the Central Command chief has led have caused a real escalation in the criticism against him, which is presented as him having Jewish blood on his hands, to the point of deciding on a din rodef against him,” Bar reportedly added, referring to a Jewish religious principle allowing the extrajudicial killing of an individual who intends to kill or harm others.

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