Thursday, March 28, 2024, 13:17 Despite the war in the Gaza Strip and the increase in Arab terror typical of the month of Ramadan, the persecution of Yehuda and Shomron residents by the GSS continues. In late March, a GSS coordinator contacted a Hareidi youth who had dropped out of yeshiva studies and works from time to time on various farms in Yehuda and Shomron. The coordinator falsely presented himself as an official of the Prime Minister’s Office and tried to recruit the youth as an informant against his friends.
The youth described his meeting with the GSS coordinator: “A man who presented himself as an employee of the Prime Minister’s Office asked to meet with me. We met in Jerusalem, and he tried to make a friendly connection with me. He told me stories about his life and tried to get information from me about people on the farms I’ve worked on over the past few years. I asked him directly if he’s from the Jewish Department [of the GSS], and he was evasive. But he did admit that he was from the GSS. He asked me not to talk about the conversation with anyone.”
Honenu Attorney Eladi Weisel, to whom the youth turned for assistance, stated, “This was an attempt to cynically take advantage of a Hareidi youth who left his yeshiva, decided to rehabilitate his life, and enlisted in the IDF as a lone soldier. The GSS tried to exploit his supposed weaknesses and treated him as easy prey. It is particularly outrageous that at a time of war, when our enemies from the north, south, and center are threatening to destroy us, the GSS is wasting resources on harassment of Yehuda and Shomron activists instead of verifying that the failures that led to the October 7 massacre will not be repeated on other fronts.”