Since the establishment of the Jewish Section in the Shin Bet (clandestine security service), its agents and operators have been busy recruiting collaborators who are willing to reveal what is going on among the hills of Judea and Samaria. On Monday morning, Army Radio correspondent Caramel Dangur, presented a recording of a failed attempt on the part of one such agent to recruit a right-wing activist to become his registered informer.
The recordings provide a rare glimpse into the activity of the Jewish Section. The Shin Bet Jewish Section operative, Haim, receives a surprising phone call. On the line was Amishav Melet, a senior right-wing activist on the hills, especially in the Geulat Zion outpost in Benjamin. Amishav called the agent to give him a final “no” on his proposal to become the agent’s snitch.
The agent doesn’t give up easy. “What, in your opinion, is working for Eretz Israel?” he asks his prospect. “You think throwing rocks at Palestinians is [good for] Eretz Israel?”
Amishav is hurt. “If that’s what you think I’m doing with my life, then I have nothing to say to you,” he answers angrily. “That’s today’s Shabak? You don’t know what’s really going on?”
“I don’t throw rocks or anything,” Amishav protests. “I don’t bother with the Arabs, I don’t do anything other than positive action on behalf of Eretz Israel.”
Haim, the agent, then asks, “Are you responsible for the outpost?”
“Yes.”
“In other words, everything that happens there is your responsibility?”
“In certain ways,” Amishav says, hesitatingly. “I’m like the mayor of Jerusalem, or Tel Aviv – he does what he needs to do. I reiterate, that is my activity and I do not encourage any other activity.”
“Is it clear to you,” the agent warns towards the end of his failed attempt to recruit the young man, “that if you carry out a forbidden activity, we’re going to take care of you?”
“What matters to me,” Amishav retorts, “is that it should be clear to you, that anyone who harms Eretz Israel, he, too, would have to answer for it at some point.”