Haaretz: Nothing is Worse than Zini's Presidency of the Shin Bet

SadaNews - The anticipated appointment of Major General David Zini as the head of the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) has caused a political and media storm in Israel, not only because of his controversial personality but also due to what he represents as a reflection of deeper transformations in the nature of the occupying state and its security institutions.

The Haaretz newspaper featured two articles discussing aspects of Zini's personality and the environment in which he grew up. Leftist writer Gideon Levy considered Zini's appointment as head of the intelligence agency to be chilling, describing him as a messianic figure from a messianic father.

Levy stated that, in Zini's view, Palestinians are "enemies of the Holy One, blessed be His name," and the war against them is eternal. He added that this man grew up on a path oscillating between the doctrine of Baruch Goldstein (the perpetrator of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in 1994) and the teachings of the extremist rabbi Tzvi Tau.

He added that when "dark religiousness" is the driving force, and the army and the Shin Bet are the tools, the outcome becomes alarming, pointing out that mixing fervent religious zeal with "arrogant reckless national tyranny" results in rampant fascism, warning that people like Zini will do everything in the name of these two motives.

The Shin Bet is still the same

Gideon Levy, in his scathing article, reminded liberals that their problem is not with the nature of the Shin Bet but with its image.

Whenever it was headed by "liberal" leaders - such as Nadav Argaman or Ronen Bar - this did not raise concerns, even though they practiced the same policies of arrest, torture, and assassination against Palestinians. The novelty with Zini is that he does not conceal his religious fascism; rather, he proclaims it openly, as mentioned in his article.

In another article, Haaretz states that Zini has been known to revere religious extremism, considering messianism (a Jewish belief in the return of the messiah at the end of days) as not a "dirty" word.

He also opposes ending the war in the Gaza Strip and believes that the conflict is not a politically resolvable dispute but rather a sacred existential battle, based on the biblical narrative.

Therefore, the newspaper sees it as unsurprising that Zini is the only officer on the army's General Staff who adopted the slogan "complete victory," which was launched by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted to appear before the International Criminal Court on charges related to committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

According to the article, Zini rejects any end to the war on the Gaza Strip and sees the conflict as eternal. In his speeches, he equates contemporary Palestinians with the ancient Palestinians who sought to destroy the "Kingdom of Israel."

He is also related by marriage to Rabbi Eliezer Kastiel, who believes that the conquest of land is a duty even if the Israelis are met with flowers and messages of love. This statement represents an ideology deeply rooted in Zini, reflecting a firm belief in divinely mandated preemptive conquest, not a defensive war.

Haaretz reports that senior Israeli army officers who have worked alongside Zini for years are the most knowledgeable about him and the most concerned about his appointment.

Some of them - both current and former - have described him using similar terms, such as being a "rigid thinker prone to seeing things in black and white, convinced that every problem can be solved by force."

They wondered: "What will a person who sees Palestinians as a divine existential threat to Israel do when he has this power?" They see this question as directly related to his known stance on Palestinians and the enormous power that he will possess as the head of the Shin Bet, an agency that has the authority for administrative detentions and intelligence networks.

Levy: The goal of the Shin Bet that he works for is to entrench occupation and apartheid, displacement, and Judaization through interrogations, extortion, assassinations, and mass kidnappings, which are called "arrests" in Israel, and Zini is the most suitable person to carry out this task.

According to leftist writer Gideon Levy, the goal of the Shin Bet, as he sees it, is to entrench occupation, apartheid, displacement, and Judaization through interrogations, extortion, assassinations, and mass kidnappings, which are known in Israel as "arrests"; hence, the writer believes that Zini is the most suitable person for this mission.

He emphasizes that Zini's terrifying imaginary world has long existed among Israelis, but when it does not have religious manifestations or the implementation of divine orders, Israelis do not pay attention to such a world.

However, Levy appears less optimistic, stating that perhaps Israelis will finally awaken when they see the terrifying imaginary world being applied in the name of God, citing a statement by Defense Minister Israel Katz, who "boasts about demolishing the (Al-Susi) residential tower in the city of Gaza and threatens to open the gates of hell," describing him as a "miserable character" in a satirical television program at best.

Source: Haaretz