Efrat
EfratIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Police arrested two unidentified Efrat residents, ages 18 and 22, Saturday night on suspicion of taking part in the infiltration of an IDF base last month. Efrat is adjacent to Bethlehem, immediately south of Jerusalem, and is the largest community in Gush Etzion. A large number, if not a majority, of the residents are from the United States.

Arutz Sheva learned that the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) planted an agent in the suspects’ jail cell after their arrest in order to coax them into revealing information. The two young men apparently were aware that he was an agent and told him that he would not succeed in getting them to testify against themselves.

Last week, five others were arrested and incited for "gathering valuable military information” in order to communicate to residents in Judea and Samaria of police maneuvers to destroy Jewish outposts.

Dozens of youth, many of them from urban centers and not from Judea and Samaria, infiltrated an IDF base in central Samaria to prevent soldiers from backing up police forces that were preparing to destroy an outpost.

The incident sparked outrage in Israeli mainstream media, and the police reacted quickly with arrests. Nationalists have pointed out that no investigations or arrests have been carried out against left-wing groups such as Machsom Watch, which continually monitors army activity and interferes with soldiers at checkpoints.