Shin Bet chief warns settler violence doing ‘indescribable damage’ to Israel
Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar has warned that increasingly overt settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank is wreaking “indescribable damage” on Israel, changing it “beyond recognition".
In a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant that was published by Channel 12 News on Thursday, Bar took aim at National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, warning that his incursions into Al-Aqsa mosque could “lead to bloodshed.”
Ben Gvir has led repeated raids on the Al-Aqsa compound in occupied East Jerusalem, an Islamic site where unsolicited visits, prayers, and rituals by non-Muslims are forbidden according to decades-long international agreements.
In his letter, Bar emphasised that settler violence in the occupied West Bank had become increasingly “widespread and visible,” noting that extremist groups were being armed with weapons “that have been legally distributed by the state".
He added that the government’s light-handed approach and “secret” police backing of far-right settler group, Hilltop Youth, who have “long become a widespread phenomenon of violent activity against Palestinians,” is encouraging their actions which he said were tantamount to “terrorism".
Read more: Shin Bet chief warns settler violence doing ‘indescribable damage’ to Israel
