חשיפה: רונן ברזובסקי, 55, נבחר למנהל השב”כ החדש
“מבוקש”: שמו וכתובתו של ראש השב”כ המיועד פורסמו בתקשורת הפלסטינית@ItayBlumental https://t.co/A92J9jeDjP
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 26, 2021
Ronen Berezovsky, incoming Shin Bet chief, named here for first time
For weeks, Israeli media has reported that the incoming Shin Bet chief is “R.” He will assume his post next month. The outgoing Shin Bet director is Nadav Argaman, whose name I reported before he was appointed to his position. Under rules of military censorship, all agents of the intelligence agencies may not be named in the media, aside from the bosses. A few weeks ago, a source gave me his first name, Ronen.
Haaretz reveals the new boss’ first initial is “R.” I can reveal his full first name, Ronen. But alas my source is tight lipped about a full ID. https://t.co/Xh9vlsJLXL
— Tikun Olam (@richards1052) September 1, 2021
But I did not know his last name till now. Now, thanks to Palestinian Arabic-language report (reported here without identifying him, by Israel’s Kan) I can name Ronen Berezovsky, age 56, as his successor. NOTE: After censorship was lifted, Israeli media reported his name as Ronen Bar. He recently changed his name from the Russian Berezovsky, to a shorter and more Israeli-sounding family name. According to the Palestinian account, he lives in Hod HaSharon. His address was even posted, though I am not including it (in English).
Haaretz offered this personal background:
R. [Berezovsky] has held a number of senior positions in the Shin Bet’s operations branch, where Argaman also served. Argaman appointed R. as his deputy two years ago.
R., 55, who is married and is a father of three, served as a combat soldier in one of the military’s elite units. After he was discharged from the army, he joined the Shin Bet.
R. completed his B.A. course in political science and philosophy from the Tel Aviv University and finished his M.A. course in public policy from Harvard.
The Times of Israel reports that he served in Sayeret Matkal during his IDF service, Israel’s most elite commando unit.
The Arabic heading of the report says “Wanted.” It was published by a Gaza-based media outlet, Filasteen Alaan (“Palestine Now”), which is close to Hamas. This indicates the information likely comes via Hamas intelligence.
In case anyone feels tenderly toward protecting Berezovsky’s privacy, I remind you that yesterday the Shin Bet hunted down and murdered five Hamas operatives in the West Bank. Of course, it claimed they were planning a terror attack. But that’s almost always the story offered in such situations. In many ways, the Shin Bet is as much a terror force as any Palestinian cell. So I offer Berezovsky no immunity. He should be known and named in order to be held accountable (here at least, if not by Israelis).
Given that several of the victims were killed in Jenin, it seems that the operation may have been either a follow-up or retaliation for any support offered to the Palestinian prison escapees who were captured in Jenin last week. The escape was a major black eye for Israel’s security apparatus, and the Shin Bet would have been eager to avenge those who caused such embarrassment, in order to re-establish its deterrent powers.
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“So I offer Berezovsky no immunity.”
You playing God again, Richard?
@ Ben G:
No, just good old fashioned journalism. You’ve heard of journalism, haven’t you?
Ah…journalism.
“Ideology—that is what gives evildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination….”– Solzhenitsyn
@ Ben G: It would make sense you would quote a right-wing anti-Semite.
Now you’re engaging in non sequiturs. Ideology and journalism are not the same thing. Apparently, you’re confusing the two. Sign of a feeble mind.
Richard. You wouldn’t normally put another man’s innocent family in Harm’s Way, but, because you claim to be a journalist, now it’s okay for you to endanger them.
Journalism and ideology don’t have to be the same, only similar.
How would you like it if a journalist leaked your family’s address to your enemies?
Don’t bother to answer. You’re the heartless guy who already put a picture of a prepubescent sexual abuse victim on your website.
Get many ‘likes for doing that?
I strongly doubt that Palestine-BLM intersectionality is going to topple the Jewish State. The social fabric of America is fraying at the seams and that would have to be addressed before a ‘woke’ and just America will turn it’s attention to Israel and the Palestinians.
A few years ago, I would have said ‘Israel and the Arabs’, but the Arabs are pretty disinterested in the I/P conflict.
Besides the fact that most of the Middle East is now in complete shambles, global warming, natural disasters, poverty and a raging pandemic are making the Israel-Palestine conflict irrelevant to all but those people in the ‘echo chamber’.
As far as Solzhenitsyn being an anti-Semite, my feeble mind is still open, not closed like yours.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jan/25/russia.books
@ Ben G: I didn’t put him in harm’s way. He is one of the state’s most senior officials. In any other democracy, his identity would be public well before he was named. A democratic state is fully transparent about such matters. Israel isn’t.
And HE put himself in harm’s way when he became boss of Israel’s secret police assigned to spy on, murder, and blackmail Palestinians. I owe him nothing.
And how the hell do you get that I put his family in harm’s way? Because I said the city where he Lives? And from that someone is going to harm his family? Puh-leeze!
And don’t you dare try to make this about me. This is about him. This is about an apartheid murderous regime.
Journalism by definition is the opposite of ideology. You clearly don’t know the first thing about either.
As for doxxing me: it’s already been done. But that’s not the issue. You’re again obfuscating. I am not responsible for murdering Palestinians or upholding an unjust political regime. I am a journalist. We have an example of the US government planning to murder Julian Assange. Americans are rightly outraged about this.
Do not refer to Israel here as “the Jewish state.” I am a Jew and it is neither Jewish nor any state I regard as such. It is a Judeo-supremacist state, it it is anything.
No one wants to “topple” anything. Even if there is a peace agreement and a single state it will not “topple” Israel. It will transform it into what it should be–a secular democratic state in which all religions and citizens are respected and equal.
The social fabric of Israel is FAR MORE frayed than the US.
Your cynicism is typical of Israelis and the pro-Israel crowd. It’s offensive, self-justifying and self-defeating.
My mind is fully open to justice, tolerance, peace and democracy. It is closed to racism, injustice, militarism and apartheid. For that, I am proud.
Do not post in this thread further.
@Richard, you say that your “is closed to racism, injustice, militarism and apartheid” – but while it makes you shaken when Israel defines itself a Jewish state (which it is, regardless of anyone’s opinion on the subject) – you fail to see the apartheid of the other side, namely the palestinian Arabs.
They wish NO Jews in their borders.
They have Zero Jews in Gaza, Ramallah, Shchem, Jenin etc.
That apartheid is OK with you apparently…
When animal crowd in those shabby places burn a mannequin dressed like a Jew – this racism seems to be acceptable to you.Double standard anybody?! 😉
@ Alex: Israel is not a “Jewish state.” It is a Judeo-supremacist state. A deformity of Judaism. It is not Jewish in any sense that I as a proud Jew recognize. And at least 1.5 million American Jews agree it is an apartheid state. They don’t think there’s anything about it they would define as Jewish in any sense they recognize as such.
Palestinians are perfectly willing to accept Jews living inside Palestine as long as those Jews accept Palestinian sovereignty. Though if there was a single state this wouldn’t even be an issue since Jews and Palestinians could live wherever they wanted.
Israeli Jews live in Ramallah and have done so for decades. Jews cannot live in Gaza because it violates Israeli law. Before Israel outlawed this, there were Jews who lived in Gaza.
This is grotesque hate and Islamophobia. You are now moderated. Only future comments which respect the rules (which I urge you to read) will be published. Any comments which further violate them will bring outright banning.
No matter that this Berezovsky and and his thugs/’agents’ can operate with complete impunity, violating any and all human rights all in the name of that ‘holy cow’ security. I wonder how many times that these thugs whom he’ll be in charge of have murdered Palestinians and gotten away with it/covered it up. How many times that they have wrongly imprisoned/administratively detained Palestinians based on their say so/lies and cover ups. And yet here you are, worried about Richard’s writings. #StopIsrael #decolonizePalestine
Your rant sounds a lot like how America’s justice system treats people of color.
@ Ben G: I have no idea what you’re talking about. Incoherence is yet another sign of a feeble mind.
But I will say that the Palestinian struggle and Black Lives Matter are united in the same goal: freedom from state violence, racism and oppression. And the Shin Bet is a keystone of that oppression against Palestinians.
That’s not a rant. It’s a simple fact. Bugs the hell out of you, I know.
[comment deleted: Islamophobia/Arabophobia is prohibited. Read the comment rule carefully. Further violations could lead to moderation or banning]
@Richard – last week you’ve published an article here with a subject line “The Great Escape, Or Was It?“.Now in this article you state that “The escape was a major black eye for Israel’s security apparatus”.
You contradict yourself.
@ Alex: No I don’t contradict myself. All of Israel sees this as a black eye for the security apparatus. All of Israel does not see the escapees as informants (whether they were or not). I was clearly referring to how the incident is perceived by Israelis.
[comment deleted: do not repeat arguments already offered by others in the thread and rebutted.]