David Pratt: Israel's arming of Gaza's crime gangs is sure to backfire

The National

5 hours ago

Speaking at his military farewell ­ceremony last week before taking up his new post, Zini it seems was keen to point out that messianism, far from being a dirty word, is in fact what underpins ­today's Israel.
'We are all messianic – like David ­Ben-Gurion and the founding fathers of the nation, who saw in our people's grand vision a message for the entire world,' the new domestic spy chief told his audience.
Israel by its deeds and actions has never been shy of sending out messages to the rest of the world – especially militarily. More often than not, they have not gone down well, especially in relation to its actions in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and subjugation of the Palestinians.
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Last week was no exception, with ­reports surfacing of what could best be ­described to say the least as a ­controversial strategy in Israel's efforts to defeat Hamas.
In short, over the course of these past months Israel has been arming ­criminal gangs that loot aid convoys and are led by a known thief and drug trafficker with links to the terrorist Islamic State group (ISIS).
The Shin Bet, which Zini is about to head up, has it seems been at the ­forefront of such a strategy and under his ­leadership few doubt things will change. Why should they change, ask critics, when the man who appointed him, Netanyahu, appears only too happy to confirm the measures?
'Israel is working to defeat Hamas in various ways, on the recommendation of all heads of the security ­establishment,' Netanyahu's office declared last week as the reports surfaced. Hours later ­Netanyahu himself doubled down on the statement, his tone almost one of ­nonchalance and disregard.
'We made use of clans in Gaza that are opposed to Hamas … What's wrong with that?' Netanyahu said in a video posted on Twitter/X.
'It's only good. It saves the lives of ­Israeli soldiers,' he then added.
But according to some observers, both inside Israel itself and beyond, there is a lot to be concerned about regarding such a strategy.
Among those Israeli voices condemning the policy was former Israeli defence minister Avigdor Lieberman, now leader of Israel's right-wing opposition Yisrael Beiteinu party.
'The Israeli government is giving ­weapons to a group of criminals and ­felons, identified with Islamic State, at the direction of the prime minister ... it's total madness,' Lieberman said in a radio interview, while also adding that Shin Bet was aware of the weapons transfers.
Lieberman's concerns are based ­primarily on the fact that with no way of monitoring or following where such weapons end up, there is no guarantee they will not be directed at Israel It's a view shared by many.
But it's not just Israelis that would be on the receiving end of such a policy and already Palestinians in Gaza are feeling its brutal impact.
So just who are these 'clans', as ­Netanyahu calls them, what are their ­origins and how is their presence ­affecting the lives of Gazans and threatening the future of the territory?
The first thing to realise here is that ever since the early days of the current conflict in Gaza – which started after ­Hamas's ­October 7, 2023, attack – the Shin Bet along with other Israeli ­intelligence ­officials have worked hard to identify and support potential Palestinian rivals to ­undermine Hamas.
Among those identified was an armed gang led by a man named Yasser Abu Shabab, a thief and drug trafficker from the southern Gaza town of Rafah. Some reports suggest that Abu Shabab was ­previously jailed by Hamas for smuggling drugs, and that his brother was killed by Hamas when the group cracked down on attacks on UN aid convoys.
Abu Shabab is descended from the i­nfluential Bedouin Tarabin clan, which spans southern Gaza, the Sinai, and the Naqab Desert.
The area between Gaza and Sinai is known for drug smuggling and Abu Shabab's group has previously been ­accused of involvement in smuggling ­operations linked to Egyptian jihadi groups, hence Avigdor Lieberman's claims of his connection to ISIS which has a presence in the area and is known to be involved in the drug networks.
Calling itself both the 'Anti-Terror ­Service' or 'Popular Forces', Abu Shabab's group is believed to comprise a relatively small number of members, perhaps in the hundreds. But despite its diminutive size, Israel saw it as an ­opportunity to help undermine Hamas.
It's incorporation into such a ­strategy, say analysts, also underscored ­Netanyahu's uncertainty on who should take over the future administration of Gaza.
'If you think about who really can be an alternative to Hamas in Gaza, you have two options: either an Israeli ­military ­administration or the ­Palestinian ­Authority,' said Brigadier General ­Shlomo Brom, a former top Israeli ­military strategist, now retired.
Speaking to the New York Times (NYT), Brom explained how Netanyahu does not want either because a full occupation of Gaza would be costly, financially and ­politically, for Israel.
On the other hand, engaging with the Palestinian Authority (PA), Brom said, would probably require a ­discussion about a Palestinian state, a prospect ­opposed by leading members of the ­Israeli government
'So they're looking for other ­solutions,' Brom was cited by the NYT as saying, ­describing the options as 'dubious'.
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Late last year, these 'dubious' options came in the shape of Abu Shabab's gang. Eyewitnesses in Gaza often described how the gang sets up berms to waylay aid convoys along the Israeli-controlled route from Kerem Shalom, where they waited with Kalashnikovs and other weapons.
Georgios Petropoulos, a senior United Nations official who was based in Gaza last year, called Abu Shabab 'the self-styled power broker of east Rafah'.
One internal United Nations memo seen by The Washington Post concluded that the gangs 'may be benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence' or ­'protection' from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
One gang leader, the memo said, ­established a 'military-like compound' in an area 'restricted, controlled and ­patrolled by the IDF'. That leader was Abu Shabab.
Throughout this time, Israeli, ­Palestinian and international observers have insisted that the gang's activity could simply not operate without the awareness of the IDF.
'There is no chance an armed militia or clan can work out in the open like this without Israel's agreement, and definitely not in Rafah,' said Michael Milshtein, a former senior Israeli military intelligence officer, in an interview with the Financial Times ( FT).
Following last week's admission from Netanyahu that Israel was arming Abu Shabab's gang, the official page of the 'Popular Forces' media office issued a statement continuing to deny any ­connection with the Israeli army.
'We wholly reject these allegations,' the statement read. 'We regard this as a blatant attempt at distorting the image of a popular force that was born out of ­suffering and in the face of oppression, theft and corruption.'
But as the specialist Middle East ­website Mondoweiss highlighted in an online article last Friday, 'analysts have continued to point out that Abu Shabab's carefully curated social media presence, with the appearance of statements in both English and Arabic, is beyond the ­capabilities of the Gaza gang and is likely the work of the Shin Bet'.
In a video posted last Wednesday, Abu Shabab can be heard calling on people from eastern Rafah to return to their homes, saying that food, medicine and shelter would be provided. The ­footage features images of several tents that ­appeared to have been erected in the area.
Mondoweiss also cited Muhammad Shehada, a writer and civil society ­activist from Gaza, as saying that today Abu Shabab 'works in his new capacity as the head of his rebranded 'national force' of gang members to loot aid ­under the ­Israeli military's protection, carry out ­surveillance of resistance forces on its ­behalf and secure aid going to the murky US and Israeli-backed Gaza ­Humanitarian Fund (GHF), which is the US contractor tasked with delivering aid to Palestinians instead of the UN'.
Israel has sought to overhaul aid distribution, backing the controversial GHF private scheme to hand out aid under the supervision of security contractors and Israeli soldiers.
The Israelis insist the new system is ­vital to ensure Hamas is unable to ­benefit from aid that would help support its ­continued resistance. But UN officials and others have refused to participate in the scheme, calling it a 'weaponisation' of aid and saying they have not seen evidence of systematic diversion by Hamas.
In fact, Hamas itself has now upped its crackdown on Abu Shabab's gangs. In its recent coverage, Mondoweiss ­detailed how Hamas has set up what has been dubbed the Arrow Unit. The unit was first formed over a year ago in March 2024, when the phenomenon of looting by armed gangs began to spread ­throughout Gaza and began as informal groups of young men.
Abu Hadi, a member of the Arrow Unit who is also an officer in the Gaza police force, told Mondoweiss that he decided to join the unit after 'witnessing thieves ­robbing food stores and international kitchens, without concern for the ­people's hunger'.
Since then, the Arrow Unit has ­conducted operations going head on with Abu Shabab's gangs who Hamas ­identifies as collaborators with the Israelis.
In last Wednesday's video by Abu Shabab, he can be heard saying that that the 'Popular Forces' are working under 'Palestinian legitimacy', a phrase that Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders often use to refer to their government.
The Palestinian Authority, the West Bank-based rival of Hamas, has declined to comment on reports of connections between Abu Shabab and its government, yet another reminder of the power vacuum that exists in Gaza.
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The obvious threat posed to Gazans aside, Israel's attempts to exploit this ­security vacuum it created by backing Abu Shabab's gangs as an alternative to Hamas rule is a tactic not without ­precedent.
Always in the past too, this has only served to make an already dire situation in Gaza even worse. Critics of Israel's ­policy say what is unfolding on the ground in this collaboration between Shin Bet, the IDF and the gangs points to a nefarious longer-term scheme, used to push Israel's starvation, ethnic cleansing and genocide policies. They remind also of the danger of creating a Frankenstein monster type militia in the region.
Last week, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid responded to the claim that Israel is arming Abu Shabab with a warning that it could see a repeat of a grim ­history for the country. He reminded that for ­decades, including multiple terms in ­office for ­Netanyahu, Israel allowed ­Hamas to grow as a counter to rivals Fatah, ­allowing ­Hamas to entrench its control in Gaza. It was seen as a cynical bid to prevent a unified Palestinian leadership from taking hold in Gaza and the much larger territory of the West Bank.
'After Netanyahu finished giving ­millions of dollars to Hamas, he moved on to giving weapons to organisations close to ISIS in Gaza, all off the cuff, all without strategic planning, all leading to more disasters,' Lapid warned on social media. His views were echoed by a recent editorial in the Israeli daily Haaretz.
'Instead of any serious discussion about reconstruction and the enclave's ­future, Netanyahu is advancing a ­messianic ­vision that includes crimes against ­humanity in the form of ethnic cleansing and population transfer,' ­observed the newspaper.
In advancing that 'messianic vision', ­Israel's arming of gangs in Gaza will doubtless go on. Netanyahu after all now has his chosen head of Shin Bet, David Zini, to implement that vision, and he too by his own admission is 'messianic'.