Israel: security chief warns of far-right plot against senior IDF officer

The head of Israel’s Internal Security Agency has warned of a far-right plot against the senior military commander in the occupied West Bank. Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar expressed his concerns in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and all government ministers.

Bar said that intense criticism directed at IDF Central Command’s Major General Yehuda Fox, “may create a concrete threat to the general’s life and allow him to be harmed.” The plot, he said, is led by “a small number of people, but who are extremist and Kahanist.”

He claimed that the intense criticism directed at Fox are due to his actions following 7 October which include implementing administrative orders leading to the detention of extremist settlers without formal charges and overseeing the retrieval of firearms distributed to civilian “security teams” without proper supervision. “The steps that the Central Command chief has led have caused a real escalation in the criticism against him, which is presented as him having Jewish blood on his hands, to the point of deciding on din rodef [sending someone to murder] him.”

The warning comes after the Israeli military issued a six-month administrative restraining order in September preventing Elisha Yered, one of the main suspects accused of killing 19-year-old Palestinian Qusai Jamal Maatan in the West Bank last month, from accessing the region. According to the Times of Israel, Fox claimed that he was convinced that the “weighty security considerations require this and that it was necessary” to ensure the security of the West Bank.

Following Bar’s letter, IDF Chief of Staff addressed the hostility towards Fox. “Any persecution or defamation of him is grave and must be condemned clearly and from every quarter,” insisted General Herzi Halevi.

Moreover, opposition Leader Yair Lapid slammed the threats against Fox, calling him “a brave warrior, patriot, defender of Israel.” He added, “The threats against his life are another disgraceful low of a messianic, violent and delusional group, which endangers Israel’s security while the IDF is fighting for our lives.”

Last week, President Herzog held a meeting with Israeli soldiers stationed in the South Hebron Hills region, in Area C of the Occupied West Bank. “It is important to me on this occasion to strengthen Central Command head Yehuda Fox, who is going through difficult days of blatant, insolent and ugly personal attacks,” he said. “There is a vocal minority group that is causing terrible damage to the settlement movement and the IDF and it is extremely important that we stand up to them and make it clear to them that enough is enough.”

Two extremist Israeli settlers, Elisha Yered and Yehiel Indore, were accused of “deliberate or depraved-indifference homicide” in the 4 August shooting of 19-year-old Qusai Maatan. Yered, formerly the spokesperson for the far-right Otzma Yehudit MK, Limor Son Har-Melech, is prohibited from communicating with multiple far-right activists.

Rights groups have highlighted repeatedly the discrepancy between sentences issued to Israelis and Palestinians. While Palestinian stone throwers can and do receive up to 20 years in prison — even if they are minors and no damage or injuries have been caused by their actions — Israelis who murder Palestinians are generally released within months.

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