Israel’s internal security service going after leftwing protesters

Noam Sheizaf By Noam Sheizaf December 14, 2010 | Edit

Another activist received an invitation to a meeting with Shabak. After refusing, he was warned that it would be in his best interest to come

Yesterday, I reported here on two members of the leftwing group Anarchists against the Wall that were invited to a meetings with a Shabak (Israel’s internal security agency) operator calling herself “Rona”. Apparently, this was the same person who conducted a political interrogation of former IDF pilot Yonatan Shapira a few months ago.

Today (Tuesday), a third activist received a phone call from “Rona”, asking him to report to a meeting with her. The activist refused, demanding to be issued a formal subpoena. According to his report, “Rona” replied that she is aware of his actions, and that it would be in his best interest to come to the meeting. She ended the conversation by informing the activist that she would call him again next week.

The activist noted that the conversation was friendly.

According to the reports of Yonatan Shapira and another activist who attended a meeting with “Rona” last week, it seems that the purpose of these conversations is to send a warning message to leftwing protestors.

The Shabak has declared in the past before the Supreme Court that it follows the activities of foreign pro-Palestinian activists [Hebrew link]. The head of the organization also admitted that it is conducting surveillance activities on organizations that are seeking “to change the Jewish nature of the state” [Hebrew] even when those organizations are not suspected of doing any illegal activities.

The recent warning calls might mark another escalation in the Shabak’s supervision of political activity in Israel.

Noam Sheizaf

Noam Sheizaf is an independent journalist and editor. He was the founding executive director and editor-in-chief of +972 Magazine. Prior to joining +972, he worked for Tel Aviv’s Ha-ir local paper, Ynet, and the Maariv daily, where his last position was deputy editor of the weekend magazine. He is currently working on a number of documentary films.

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