Shin Bet chief: Paramilitary units forming in Bedouin sector

The Regavim movement responded sharply Tuesday to an unusual warning delivered by Shin Bet director Roni Zini at a recent Cabinet meeting, in which he revealed that the Shin Bet routinely thwarts attempts to establish paramilitary battalions in the Bedouin dispersion in the south. "We are in a state of governmental emergency in the Negev," the movement warned, emphasizing that "it is astonishing that things known for years are being said specifically now, on October seventh."

In a detailed statement, the movement noted that "for years we have been warning about Bedouistan, the developing security threat in the Negev, in areas that have become ex-territorial, and in recent times even more so, with the intensification of smuggling by drones." The movement stressed that this is a multi-dimensional phenomenon threatening the state's sovereignty in the region.

Zini told Cabinet members that "there are places in the Bedouin dispersion with military infrastructure that we are thwarting all the time, attempts to establish paramilitary battalions, a very worrying phenomenon." The Shin Bet chief's unusual warning comes against the backdrop of a series of serious incidents in recent months in the Bedouin dispersion areas, including the arrest two weeks ago of a murder suspect after an extensive manhunt.

Regavim detailed the array of developing threats in the Negev: "Starting with the phenomenon of polygamy importing thousands of women from Judea and Samaria who are trafficked in the Negev and raising a generation hostile to the State of Israel. Through nationalist radicalization by Islamic elements penetrating educational and welfare institutions, to the enormous quantities of combat equipment existing in the Negev alongside additional game-changing weapons smuggled nightly from the borders into state territory."

The phenomenon of weapons and combat equipment smuggling into the Bedouin dispersion is not new, but its scope is expanding. Last April, an indictment was filed against three Bedouin who ran a smuggling network from Jordan to Israel using drones, transferring drugs to Jordan and in return receiving weapons that were later sold for tens of thousands of shekels.

"The warnings must not be ignored," Regavim emphasized at the end of its statement. "A preemptive operation and thwarting of threats is required just before it is too late." The movement called on the government to take decisive and immediate steps to restore Israeli sovereignty in the Bedouin dispersion areas, before the situation deteriorates to a point of no return.

It should be noted that in recent days a heated argument erupted in the Cabinet between Shin Bet chief Zini and Minister Orit Strock over the discussion of settler violence, with Zini sharply attacking the minister and telling her "you are disconnected" after she demanded he also address Arab violence in Judea and Samaria.