Shin Bet Plans Major Expansion to Combat Crime in Arab Society with Billion-Shekel Budget

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) is set to receive a budget of approximately one billion shekels to tackle complex security and criminal challenges within the Arab community, pending final approval from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The operational plan, promoted by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Minister May Golan, focuses on three main areas: increasing personnel by recruiting around 500 new employees dedicated to combating crime in Arab society; establishing special units including intelligence, research, and technology divisions tailored to counter criminal organizations; and enhancing technological enforcement capabilities through advanced surveillance and intelligence gathering to secure high-quality evidence against key offenders.

This initiative follows prolonged political and legal debates over whether an intelligence agency should engage in criminal enforcement, with previous security officials warning that such involvement could risk exposing sensitive operational methods. However, government officials argue that the scale of violence and murders necessitates integrating security tools to dismantle crime families effectively.

A new Shin Bet department will be created to address this issue, employing more intrusive methods than the police, such as installing tracking devices, wiretapping, and aggressive surveillance techniques. The plan is expected to be funded with about 1.3 billion shekels. This shift became possible after David Zini replaced Ronen Bar as Shin Bet chief; Bar had opposed the agency's involvement in this area. Additionally, government secretary Yossi Fox recently instructed ministry directors not to use funds originally allocated for a five-year plan for the Arab community, signaling a reallocation of resources toward this security effort.