Shin Bet chief Zini visits Beersheba, reviews Negev threats after warning of Bedouin ‘battalions’

Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Director David Zini toured Beersheba on Sunday and held a working meeting with Mayor Ruvik Danilovich on security threats in the Negev and efforts to thwart them.

During the visit, Zini outlined the scope of the Shin Bet’s activity in the region and its plan for addressing the threats, highlighting the work of the IDF and the Shin Bet to thwart them. He also addressed his warning to the security cabinet last month about attempts to establish military-style infrastructure and armed groups with battalion-like characteristics in the Negev’s Bedouin diaspora, the scattered, largely unrecognized Bedouin villages in southern Israel.

'This is a very worrying phenomenon'

“There are places in the Bedouin diaspora with military infrastructure that we are constantly thwarting, attempts to establish battalions that are practically military – this is a very worrying phenomenon,” Zini told cabinet members at the time.

Days after Zini’s warning, the Shin Bet announced it had uncovered a terrorist cell in the Bedouin town of Segev Shalom, near Beersheba, that it said was modeled on the Palestinian “battalions” in the West Bank. The cell allegedly planned attacks including shootings at the local police station and the Beersheba Central Bus Station.

The discussion comes amid a rise in recent years in the smuggling of weapons and ammunition across Israel’s borders and in thefts of IDF weapons. Shooting incidents in Negev cities and Bedouin communities have also shaken residents’ sense of security.

During the meeting, Danilovich briefed Zini on Beersheba’s rapid development and the national tasks facing the city. These include absorbing IDF units relocating to the south, creating jobs, keeping young people in the city, and absorbing new immigrants. He also presented the city’s investments in security, its cooperation with the police, and the need to address threats in the region.

Zini discusses how the Shin Bet thwarts would-be terrorists

Zini, for his part, stressed the Shin Bet’s responsibility for thwarting terrorism on all fronts and its commitment to protecting all Israeli citizens.

“I commend the women and men of the Shin Bet for their work as ‘the defender who shall not be seen’ in thwarting all threats across the various arenas,” Danilovich said, referring to the agency’s motto. “The Negev is the new Israeli dream. The real test of the State of Israel is in the Negev. Alongside the great opportunities, there are threats that must be dealt with immediately.”

“I thank Beersheba Mayor Mr. Ruvik Danilovich for the visit and the discussion, and I am very impressed by Beersheba’s work and prosperity,” Zini said. “As Ben-Gurion said, ‘It is in the Negev that the people of Israel will be tested.’ The initiative and involvement of the mayor and the municipality in security and in developing the Negev are inspiring and strengthen the Negev.”