The Shin
Bet is the intelligence agency charged with defending Israel against terrorism,
espionage, and the release of state secrets. Since the Six Day War in 1967, it
had been at the forefront of Israel’s intelligence operations in the occupied
territories of the West Bank and Gaza. The heads of the Shin Bet are among the
select few involved in all National Security decisions and are answerable
directly to Israel’s prime minister. They are the only members of the
organization whose identities are known to the general public but had never
been interviewed about their work until Dror Moreh’s Academy Award nominated
documentary The Gatekeepers (2012). In
this film six former heads of the Israeli intelligence organisation share their
thoughts on the on going conflict with Palestine. Ami Ayalon (1996-2000), Avi
Dichter (2000-2005), Yuval Diskin (2005-2011), Carmi Gillon (1994-1996), Yaakov
Peri (1988-1984) and Avraham Shalom (1980-1986) have all held jobs that are
arguably among the most important and controversial in the Middle East and who
were at the heart of some of the most fateful decisions in the history of the
area.
In this
totally absorbing documentary we learn about the ‘belligerent occupation’ of
the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and then how the Israeli’s systematically
dealt with any opposition and recruited people to spy on their neighbours,
families and friends. In June 1982 Israel Defence Forces invaded Southern
Lebanon and again Shin Bet recruited informants and was able to control Lebanon
just as it did with the West Bank. Unlawful killing and maiming of anyone who
opposed the Israeli’s was prevalent, including some captured freedom fighters who
had their hands tied and were no longer a treat. This happened during the
300-bus hijacking and the Israeli army was accused of premeditated murder
sanctioned by Shin Bet who believe there is no such concept as an illegal order,
taking their own decisions to murder people. We were told that the relationship
between the agency and the government was not always good and that some of
their missions were ‘questionable legal’ and some were ‘barely legal’.
Incidentally the only reason the killings connected to the 300 bus incident
came out were because there was a reporter present otherwise these murderous
killings would never have been made public. As far as the Shin Bet leadership
was concerned fighting terrorism did not involve morals and certainly did not
take into consideration that one mans terrorist is another mans freedom
fighter.
We were
shown how the Palestinians people could only fight back with rocks against a
well-armed military force. As usual, when it suits them, the Americans stood by
and watched the one sided carnage. Diplomacy eventually prevailed and peace
talks followed but they eventually failed and the Israeli’s continued to set up
illegal settlements in Arabs lands. Hamas took up the fight on behalf of their
people but with American support Israel continue to dominate the Palestinians.
In 1995
the then Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir
an Israeli who was opposed to Rabin signing the Oslo Accord which was meant to
bring peace to the Middle East. This had the affect of changing the status quo
and Shin Bet faced a serious crisis and an organizational shift followed. By
the year 2000 over 220000 Jews had illegal settlements on Arab lands. The
agency continued to target suspected Palestinian’s and with the help of the Israeli
air force would bomb houses where suspects were deemed to be. But this was an
inhumane method at best because of the collateral damage when bystanders and
adjoining property were also blown up.
The Funeral of Yitzhak Rabin. |
The
documentary highlights the fact that the Jewish state is cruel and merciless to
its neighbours and particularly to its occupied inhabitant’s, listening to
these men is both eye opening and mind blowing. There are some very explicit
scenes of carnage and death so be warned. I will bring this ramble to a close
by quoting Yitzham Leibowitz a critic of Israel’s illegal occupation. “A state ruling over a hostile population of
1 million foreigners will necessarily become a Shin Bet state, with all that
this implies for education, freedom of speech and thought, and democracy. The
corruption found in every colonial regime will affix itself to the state of
Israel. The administration will have to suppress an Arab uprising on one hand,
and acquire quislings and Arab traitors on the other” And as the German
general and military theorist Clausewitz pointed out “you may win the battle but loose the war”
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