Samaria
SamariaFlash 90

The "Jewish Department" of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, is known to recruit members of communities where covert illegal activity is suspected, to spy against their friends and neighbors. On Monday, an expose aired by the television show Uvda showed what the Shin Bet does when it cannot find people willing to cooperate with it.

According to the report, the Shin Bet has been known to recruit women to tempt married Israeli men into having affairs. If they succeed, the affairs are videotaped, and the men are given a choice: help the Shin Bet, or see the video go public.

Former Shabak head Carmi Gilon and attorney Naftali Wartzberger both testified on Uvda that the tactic was once used against an important figure in Judea and Samaria.

The expose also centered on the case of Yehuda Cohen, a Shin Bet agent who was sent to marry a woman whose parents were among the key figures in Judea and Samaria. Cohen said that after years, lying became second nature to him, “I lied to my wife even when I could have told the truth.”

He noted that the Israel Police was not aware of his affiliation with the Shin Bet, and so assumed that he was actually a potentially dangerous Jewish nationalist. “From the police’s point of view I was a dangerous person who was likely to hurt Palestinians… Whenever something would happen I would be the first one arrested,” he said.

Last year, a young Israeli man from Samaria testified that he was barred from entering his hometown as a means of putting pressure on a relative to work with the Shin Bet.