The head of the Jewish division in the Shin Bet security service, identified only as "A," has admitted in a recording published by Kan News that they routinely arrest settlers of Judea and Samaria without evidence. In the recording, he is heard speaking with former Judea and Samaria police commander, Avishai Mualem, who was investigated after allegedly refusing to cooperate with the Shin Bet.
"We always want to arrest them for questioning, as many as possible. Look how Shin Bet interrogations are conducted with them. We arrest these jerks even without evidence for a few days. Put them in detention cells with mice," the head of the Jewish division says. When Mualem protests against this statement, "A" clarifies that "this is being handled by the Shin Bet office with the defense minister."
"We're starting to be in trouble, brother, they'll tear us apart," Mualem says, to which "A" responds that they should have arrested suspects even earlier. "First of all, you should have caught them in a car from Havat Gilad maybe. There were combustible materials there, maybe they smell of fuel." Mualem asks, "If we don't catch anything, just arrest them?" and "A" confirms with, "Yes, yes, we've been in this movie many times before."
"A" continues, questioning why there weren't any detainees or roadblocks deployed. "Listen, they come from Benjamin, they go to Yitzhar, from Yitzhar they continue to Givat Zubi there, to Havat Gilad. At each of these places, you need to stop them."
When Mualem asks why the military didn't arrest the suspects, "A" responds dismissively, "It's not the army. The army is in Lebanon and Gaza. It's not the army, it's worthless. It's Phalanges, they're settlers themselves."
The published recordings sparked an uproar in Judea and Samaria and within the government. The Prime Minister's Office issued a statement calling the recording "a shocking revelation" and "a real danger to democracy." The statement added, "In light of this serious recording, the prime minister will demand a thorough examination of the activities of the Jewish division in the Shin Bet."
"It is unacceptable that in a state of law, citizens of the country are arrested without evidence and placed in detention conditions in an illegal and cruel manner. Only in dark regimes does the secret service operate in this dangerous way. In Israel, there will not be a dark shadow government within the state," the Prime Minister's Office statement concluded.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, chair of the Religious Zionism party, condemned the practices revealed in the recording. "For years we have been crying out against the use of draconian Shin Bet powers against settlers in an undemocratic, unequal, illegal, and unconstitutional manner," Smotrich said. "The recordings prove in black and white the criminality of the Jewish division in the Shin Bet and the hypocrisy of the Israeli justice system, which covers up its lies and approves its actions over the years."
Smotrich added that "Judea and Samaria settlers are not second-class citizens" and called for the immediate dismissal of the head of the Jewish division and Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar. "The head of the Jewish division must be fired tonight, taken for questioning, and put on trial. So should Ronen Bar, who has caused and continues to cause crazy damage to the organization and wears down public trust in it to nothing. The Shin Bet is a critical body for Israel's security, but it needs a clean sweep and urgent repair."
Israel Gantz, head of the Benjamin Regional Council and chairman of the Yesha Council, called the recordings "shocking" and said they "teach us that the Jewish Division in the Shin Bet operates according to criminal standards." He demanded an in-depth investigation and said the Shin Bet "must soul-search and give the public answers."
"Such a course of action empties public trust in law enforcement authorities. Who will trust a conviction when it is revealed that the body responsible for the investigation takes aggressive measures that violate the law and human rights?!" Gantz said.
He further condemned the Shin Bet official's characterization of IDF soldiers who are settlers. "These 'worthless ones' jumped from their homes on October 7 and protected the state from collapse. They served for long months, and some of them are still serving at the forefront of the IDF. After these words, the head of the division cannot continue in his position."
In response, the Shin Bet issued a statement saying, "This conversation refers only to lawbreakers suspected of terrorism who took the law into their own hands. However, since the content of the statements and the style in which they were said do not align with the values of the service and its professional conduct, the head of the service has instructed that an inquiry be conducted with the head of the division, and the results of the inquiry will be presented to him."
The statement further emphasized that "the arrest of Israeli citizens suspected of terrorist activity is done after exercising professional judgment and careful examination of intelligence information by professionals, including senior officials, and is reviewed again in an external and independent judicial review by the court. This does not justify expressions such as those made during the conversation."
