Ronen Bar, like all his predecessors in the role, commands two bodies that are fundamentally different, with no resemblance between them, even though both are called the ISA. The first, worthy of all admiration, deals with Arab terrorism and achieves astonishing results in reducing the terrorism threshold to a level of absolute zero.
This is the ISA without which no Israeli citizen, and certainly no resident of Judea and Samaria, would be able to live their lives in security. It is the one that publishes amazing reports every week about thwarted attacks that have saved the lives of dozens or hundreds of Israelis.
The second is the Jewish Department, whose character, style, and opinions of its head were revealed this week in various recordings of his conversations with Avishai Moalem, a senior Judea and Samaria Police officer who is currently on forced leave due to unproven suspicions. The first ISA deserves all the praise and admiration for its contribution to the country's security. The second ISA deserves condemnation and disgrace. There is no resemblance between ISA A and ISA B.
The leaked recording reveals the depth of the disagreement that was between the police and ISA B. Listening to the recording reveals, between the lines, that the head of the Jewish Department in the ISA effectively asked Moalem to act contrary to the policy of the supervising minister, and also to act contrary to the law. Ben-Gvir himself, by the way, is completely convinced, and has expressed this in conversations with friends, that the pursuit of Moalem stemmed entirely from his desire to follow his own policy.
A year ago, when Ben Gvir decided to appoint Moalem to the position, the then police commissioner tried to thwart the appointment with the astonishing reasoning: 'The ISA and the army oppose it'. Ben Gvir struggled to overcome his astonishment: "What does it mean that the ISA and the army oppose it? According to the law, the police commissioner is the one who recommends the appointment of a senior officer, and the minister approves. What do the army and the ISA have to do with it?"
Shabtai continued: "The ISA is fighting this hard, and that is not good for our relationship with them". Ben Gvir insisted, and forced the appointment on the police commissioner, threatening that if Moalem was not appointed to the position, he, the minister, would not approve any police appointment suggested by the police commissioner.
Moalem angered the ISA, not only because he refused to carry out arrests without evidence, and as required by law, but also because of his priorities. Throwing of Molotov cocktails and rocks was given precedence over the graffiti by Hilltop Youth. Molotov cocktails, unlike graffiti, endanger lives. This was the root of the disagreement between the police and Moalem.
Sources who participated in meetings with the head of the Jewish Department in the ISA remember how he constantly talked about 'settlers, settlers, settlers', with no attempt to distinguish between the majority of law abiding citizens in Judea and Samaria and the relatively small group who defy the law.
In one of the discussions concerning Hilltop Youth, as if this were the most serious security problem in the country, the head of the ISA introduced a new term: 'Graffiti Terrorism'. And no one laughed.
According to all opinions, there is no such thing as 'Graffiti Terrorism'. There is shooting, rock throwing, Molotov cocktails, but what is 'Graffiti Terrorism'? What is more interesting is that 'Graffiti Terrorism' is attributed only to Jews. No Arab who painted nationalistic slogans on the walls of houses has been arrested for 'Graffiti Terrorism'. The police hardly investigate such cases.
Moalem was not willing to accept instructions such as 'go arrest A, because we believe he is a person inciting the area. He is apparently in town B'. In one case, he was instructed by the ISA to arrest a person who was in mourning.
Moalem told the ISA: 'I am not willing to arrest a person in mourning. I know what kind of mess this will create when my officers suddenly enter a bereaved household. This is not a ticking bomb. This is not someone I have to arrest right now. Nothing will happen if the person is arrested at another time, even if he needs to be arrested, and it is not certain he needs to be arrested'. He openly rebuked the ISA personnel: 'I am not your yes-man. I am not your executioner.'
Moalem decided to address the phenomenon that the police refrained from tackling: the anarchists who assist Palestinian crime in Judea and Samaria. In his conversations with the Jewish department in the ISA, Moalem said to them: 'Nationalistic crime is not just Hilltop Youth. We have anarchists in the southern Hebron Hills. Anarchists who attack Jewish shepherds and try to assault them. We need to deal with them.' Moalem established a special team within the Judea and Samaria police to address this phenomenon, despite the opposition of the head of the Jewish Department in the ISA.
Let there be no doubt: those who spray incitement are criminals that law enforcement authorities need to handle, but they are not terrorists who carried out an attack. There is no comparison between these two types of criminality. If there are Hilltop Youth who violate the law, law enforcement authorities need to deal with them, not the ISA. If there are criminals among the Hilltop Youth who carry out attacks involving bodily harm and property damage, they are entirely criminals that must be dealt with forcefully - but this is not to be compared with someone who just sprays graffiti. Anyone who dedicates energy and resources to fighting 'Graffiti Terrorism' will miss plans for real attacks.
There was a time, 30 years ago, when an ISA agent [Avishai Raviv], as part of his role as provocateur, incited against Rabin and led persecution against non-criminal elements in the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria. This ended with the assassination of a Prime Minister committed by that agent's close associate Yigal Amir.
(The full article will be published this Saturday in the 'Armed with a Keyboard' column in the religious Zionist weekly 'National Spirit')