An Israeli policeman was sent to the town of Bat Ayin in Gush Etzion, disguised as an Arab employee of the communications giant Bezeq, to provoke local right-wing activists to attack him – and be arrested on the spot, Reshet Bet radio reported Sunday morning.
The police plot was discovered when residents noticed a drone hovering over their heads. The policeman was not attacked, and there were no arrests.
The police issued a statement saying: “The Israel Police, together with the security forces, are carrying out an initiative to enforce the law and maintain the security and safety of the residents of the area.”
That’s some safety and security.
Bat Ayin is an Israeli settlement in Gush Etzion, located between Jerusalem and Hebron, part of the Gush Etzion Regional Council. It has about 200 families, mainly Chassidic returnees.
Unlike most settlements, Bat Ayin is not surrounded by a fence—for ideological reasons—despite its close proximity to the Arab villages of Khirbet Safa, Tzurif, Jaba, and Nahalin.
In 2003, three residents of the settlement were arrested along with a settler from another settlement and accused of organizing and planning terrorist acts against Arabs. The group was dubbed the Bat Ayin underground, and three of its members were convicted and sentenced to heavy prison terms.
In February 2007, a resident of the settlement, Erez Levanon, was stabbed to death while meditating in a grove some 200 yards from his home. His murderers, two young Arab residents of the nearby village of Khirbet Safa, were apprehended that night after openly boasting about their actions. The two were released in the Shalit deal. The canyon where Erez Lebanon meditated is named after him.
In April 2009, a terrorist from Khirbet Safa entered the settlement, murdered 13-year-old Shlomo Nativ with an ax, and wounded a 7-year-old boy.
In October 2013, after an incident in which masked men attacked an Arab truck driver with bats and sprayed IDF soldiers with pepper spray, the IDF decided to take its soldiers out of the settlement.