Shin Bet chief said pushing electronic monitoring bracelets for violent settlers

David Zini believes measure will be more successful than restraining orders, Channel 12 reports, but hasn’t challenged Katz’s decision to stop administrative detention for Jews

By ToI Staff 14 November 2025, 11:11 pm

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David Zini seen with ultra-Orthodox soldiers from the IDF's Hasmonean Brigade, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, on August 6, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Shin Bet chief David Zini has recommended that the government approve the use of electronic monitoring bracelets for settler extremists amid the latest uptick in attacks on Palestinians, Channel 12 news reported Friday.

Zini reportedly thinks this will be a more effective tool than the current method of issuing restraining orders that ban suspects from the West Bank.

The network said, however, that the security service chief has not gone as far as urging Defense Minister Israel Katz to reverse his directive banning administrative detention against Jewish suspects.

Israel uses administrative detention, which allows suspects to be held without charges, against thousands of Palestinians. Until Katz’s directive earlier this year, it was also used against several Jewish suspects.

Channel 12 said Katz currently does not intend to reverse the order.

The reported effort by Zini comes in response to a rise in settler attacks against Palestinians, which has gone virtually unchecked, despite recent condemnation from IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and President Isaac Herzog, both of whom cast the settler violence as the work of a few extremists.

A man inspects burned trucks and cars following an attack by Israeli settlers in the village of Beit Lid, east of Tulkarem, in the West Bank, on November 12, 2025. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

Earlier this month, 15 people were injured in several settler attacks, particularly on olive harvesters, including Palestinians, Israeli and foreign activists, and a Reuters press photographer. An off-duty IDF reservist who was aiding the harvest and a Palestinian Red Crescent medic were also injured.

On Friday, hours before the Channel 12 report, the IDF announced a new closed military zone around the Palestinian village of Burin, just before hundreds of left-wing activists and volunteers were due to arrive to assist Palestinians with their olive harvest.

Zini took office in October despite legal challenges to his appointment, by previous Shin Bet heads as well as groups who claimed he lacked relevant experience and held extreme beliefs, and who accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a conflict of interest in appointing him.