Shin Bet chief warns settler terrorism in West Bank: It will lead to collapse of Israel's security

The head of the Israeli internal security service, Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, criticized, on Thursday, settler attacks on Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank, warning of the collapse of the country's national security, as a result of the escalation of these attacks.

This came in a letter sent by the head of the Shin Bet to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the private Hebrew Channel 12.

The head of the Shin Bet warned that "the increase in the rate of crimes committed by settlers in the West Bank will lead to an explosion of the situation and an increase in bloodshed between the two sides, and thus the collapse of national security in Israel."

Commenting on this, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, in a post on the “X” platform, considered the Shin Bet chief’s talk about an imminent collapse of his country’s national security as “a final warning of the coming catastrophe.”

"The government will not be able to claim we did not know, they were warned that the disaster government is once again heading towards the next collapse of national security," he added.

Lapid demanded that "(National Security Minister Itamar) Ben-Gvir and his group of extremists be removed from any decision-making position, and that the mass violations of the law in the West Bank must stop."

On Sunday, Israeli military officials warned of an escalation in settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, with a decline in arrests by the Israeli police.

The police force is controlled by the extremist Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is accused even by politicians on the Israeli left of turning a blind eye to settler violence against Palestinians.

Last May, the Israeli non-governmental human rights organization B'Tselem revealed a plan by Netanyahu's government to displace Palestinian shepherds and citizens from their lands in the West Bank, in cooperation with settlers, considering this part of the "Israeli apartheid system."

According to Israeli estimates, more than 720,000 settlers live in settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Since the outbreak of the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, the Israeli army and settlers have escalated their attacks on Palestinian citizens and their property in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

During these attacks, the army and settlers killed at least 640 Palestinians and injured 5,400, while the army arrested more than 10,000, according to official Palestinian data.

With American support, Israel wages a devastating war on Gaza, leaving more than 133,000 dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and deadly famine.

In contempt of the international community, Israel continues the war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate halt, and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent genocide and improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.