Probe launched into leaflets denouncing Shin Bet man

Leaflets accuse Israel Security Agency Jewish division head of threatening those who struggle against "the expulsion of Jews.”

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Security forces have launched an investigation into leaflets allegedly put up in a Jerusalem suburb by right-wing activists, urging locals to denounce a resident of the town who serves as the head of a Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) department that monitors the activities of extremist Jewish circles.
Army Radio reported on Monday that the leaflets, signed by “activists from Judea and Samaria,” instructed residents to “turn to their neighbor” and tell the Shin Bet division head to “stop fighting against good Jews.”
The leaflets accused the man, who cannot be named, of employing “threats and intimidation tactics against activists [involved] in the struggle against the [West Bank] construction freeze and the expulsion of Jews.”
A security source told The Jerusalem Post that the incident was being viewed as part of a larger, ongoing phenomenon in which right-wing activists direct hostile rhetoric against senior members of the IDF, Judea and Samaria Police and the Shin Bet in the vicinity of their homes.
Former public security minister and Shin Bet director Avi Dichter told the Post on Monday that “this was not the first time something like this has happened. We have a few idiotic extremists who engage in this kind of activity.”
Dichter said he was sure the activists who put up the leaflets would soon be forced to cease their activities.
In the leaflets, the activists attributed a number of recent developments to the Shin Bet’s Jewish department, including the recent arrest of a 16-year-old outside of a Jerusalem wedding hall, who was wanted for questioning on suspicion that he attacked a police officer last year.
They also referred to the January arrest of Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, head of the Od Yosef Hai yeshiva in Yitzhar, who was suspected of playing a role in the arson attack on a Palestinian mosque in December, as well as the arrest of two of the yeshiva’s students.
All of the suspects were released from custody within days of their arrests.
Former Shin Bet Jewish Division head Menahem Landau told Army Radio that even though he had left his position many years ago, right-wing activists continued to “attack me and ask me why a Jewish division is needed.”
He added, “I tell them, we need it because of people like you.”
In December, a 16-year-old from Yitzhar was arrested in Petah Tikvaand indicted for distributing leaflets condemning a Judea and SamariaPolice prosecutor.
Police launched an investigation last yearinto dozens of settlers who gathered outside the Petah Tikva home ofCh.-Supt. Shir Laufer, head prosecutor for the Judea and Samaria PoliceDistrict, and demonstrated outside of her home.


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