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18 Tammuz 5764 - July 7, 2004 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Head of Shin Bet Warns Against Extremists on the Right
by M Plaut and Yated Ne'eman Staff

Since Shin Bet security service head Avi Dichter spoke at Sunday's cabinet meeting, everyone else has not stopped talking about what he said. The most talked-about statement he made then concerned the possibility of violence from the extreme right in reaction to the implementation of the prime minister's disengagement plan. The Knesset will hold a special debate about the remarks and the threat posed by extremists.

"The activities of Israel's extreme right have escalated," Dichter said. He cited a case of a colonel who was walking with his wife in Yerushalayim when they were verbally assaulted after he was identified as having been involved in action against Kahane College in Tapuach.

The Right wing in Israel that opposes the unilaterial pullout from Gaza immediately protested, saying that Dichter was engaging in generalizations from a few extremists and proceeding to tar an entire community of hundreds of thousands that is law-abiding. The Vaad Rabbanei Yesha called Dichter's remarks, "Incitement, rebellion and fomenting divisiveness about an entire community." Many spokesmen were angry that Dichter spoke in generalizations and did not cite any specifics or name names. They said that if he had specific information he should use it or make it public, since the legitimate Right is eager to stop the actions of the extremists which often hurt their cause.

The Left pounced on the statements, saying that right wing extremism must be suppressed.

Interesting was the reaction of the police and the IDF. Both said that this assessment was a complete surprise to them. Their intelligence projections were that there would be no significant violence and they did not expect any bloodshed instigated by Jews.

In other matters, Dichter said that suicide bombings remain the biggest problem in fighting terrorism. He said that while suicide bombings make up less then one percent of all terror attacks, they account for 70 percent of all those killed and wounded.

The security establishment, aided especially by the security fence, has made enormous strides in fighting Palestinian terror, and terror is not an endless pit, but rather a "barrel that has a bottom." Palestinian terror, Dichter said, "is not an ocean that is impossible to empty."

Dichter said that since Operation Defensive Shield in April 2002, which marked a significant escalation in Israel's response to the terror, 5,850 terrorists have been removed from circulation. About 80 percent of them were arrested, and some 880 were killed. Some 600 of those arrested were potential suicide bombers who were arrested either while trying to carry out an attack or "on a waiting list" to carry out an attack.

Dichter said there have been numerous successes in fighting terror, and called on the government to continue with these actions in order to finish the job and "empty the barrel."

With regard to the Palestinian Authority (PA), Dichter said that its leadership paralysis continues. He said that all of the PA's numerous security forces are still under the control of PA chairman Yasser Arafat, and that there is little chance he will carry out the security reforms the Egyptians are demanding of him.

He said that about 45 percent of the PA's $1 billion budget is provided by tax revenues Israel transfers to the PA. Of this, Arafat's office gets $8 million a month, which pays some 300 employees. Dichter said he cannot be sure that none of this money ends up in the hands of terrorists.

Syria and Iran, Dichter said, support the terror infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza. Hamas has headquarters in Damascus that is in direct contact with Hamas in the West Bank and, to a lesser degree, with Hamas in Gaza.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Iranian intelligence, he said, are also in direct contact with Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, Tanzim and with Israeli Arabs.

Finally, Dichter said that arms smuggling from Egypt is not limited to the tunnels under the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt, but also includes the smuggling into the Negev, and from there to the West Bank. He said that Bedouin are making huge sums of money on this smuggling route, which in the past was primarily used to smuggle drugs and other contraband, but is increasingly being used to smuggle in arms.

Dichter explained that the firing of Qassam rockets is a result of their inability to get through the security fence around Gaza to carry out terrorist attacks. He said that combating the rocket firings requires that Israel enter Gaza and assert a presence in the areas from which the rockets are fired. Israel will feel free to move into areas from where rockets are launched, even after disengagement.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Shinui faction on Monday that he is pained by threats to his life that he has received from the far Right.

Referring to himself, Sharon said, "It pains me that someone who has devoted his entire life to protecting Jews now must be defended from Jews."

Stressing that he has not negotiated with any party on the formation of a new government, Sharon said that he wants to have a religious party in the government, but said it might not continue to be the NRP. He also said that United Torah Judaism does not want to sit in a coalition with Shinui.

Sharon said he is determined to push forward with his unilateral disengagement plan, even if he must change his coalition in order to do it.

 

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