Israel must close down the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a first step toward restoring its long-term security visa vise Judea and Samaria, new Bithonistim Chairman and Brig. Gen. (res.) Erez Wiener told The Jerusalem Post in an interview on Tuesday.

Wiener took over the right-leaning security NGO from Brig. Gen. Air Avivi on June 1 and is already throwing himself into the new role to try to impact Israeli policy and facts on the ground wherever possible.

With around 26 years in the IDF, as a former senior IDF southern command planning commander during the Israel-Hamas War, and as a former top aide to former IDF chief Gabi Ashkenazi, Wiener has been in the room when many of the most crucial war decisions were made.

He also admittedly has concluded his reserve duty in the IDF, at least in part over differences with the IDF high command, which he viewed as not taking an aggressive enough approach to Hamas in Gaza (there were also some controversies related to the handling of certain privileged military information.)

Going in depth into his argument regarding the PA, he said, “It is a negative. It educates children toward terror. It arms our enemies.”

Pressed that the PA never entered the 2023-2026 wars against Israel in any serious way, ” he responded, “Even if it has not been attacking recently or at this moment, if we do not protect them, Hamas will throw them off the rooftops. Abu Mazen says he will hold an election – let’s see.”

“The battle over who will succeed him will be very large. So the PA is a burden. The time has come to say Oslo failed. The IDF needs to retake Areas A and B and to take apart the PA. It can remain in a civilian capacity, which was the original plan.”

It was unclear whether he was in favor or opposed to PA police carrying small handgun style weapons, since in that area he said the key question was whether, collectively, whatever weapons the PA police would have could lead to them constituting a broader threat to Israel as opposed to just keeping the peace among local Palestinians.

“But an even better plan would be like the UAE, to keep the peace using tribal gangs, which is also like Israel is doing in parts of Gaza. We brought in the PA as an ‘alien’ entity of sorts,” Wiener urged. 

Next, Wiener was questioned about the clear US (and almost the whole world) opposition to dismantling the PA.

According to Wiener, “If the IDF chief says the PA is a threat and the Shin Bet says this also, this could change the public view and then help convince the Americans. This is the agenda.”

“We cannot fight with everyone on all fronts all of the time, but we are putting facts on the table. I am not naïve. There are going to be elections, and officials worry about their electability, but Bithonistim will declare the correct security policies and statements,” he said in terms of how realistic it is for his recommendations regarding the PA to be taken up in the near future. 

‘We fail at public relations:’ Wiener says attitude is at fault for some issues

What about if Israel changing its messaging does not convince Washington, and someone like US President Donald Trump, who holds grudges and can radically turn on a dime against a former ally, would be ready to completely freeze weapons transfers to the Jewish state.

Wiener stated, “Israel needs to define what is best for it. Regarding the PA, Israel never said clearly what is right. It is clear to most of the political spectrum that a Palestinian state is a threat to Israel, so what do we do?” 

“We fail at public relations. Take the violence by Jewish settlers. I wrote a long article on this with [Col. (res.)] Professor [Gabi] Siboni. We proved the numbers. There is violence by about 300 offenders and we need to deal with them. But [Shin Bet Director David] Zini was asked about dealing with them, and he said, ‘this is a police problem, not a terror problem.'”

He continued, “There are also hundreds of illegal migrants in Tel Aviv. And there is a big problem with polygamy in the Negev. We have lots of sovereignty problems. Some of the offenders need to be arrested and some need to be handled as social welfare cases. They have also rebelled against their parents and teachers, but it all starts with public relations messaging.”

Moreover, even if the PA is not directly involved in violence against Israelis, he said, “Palestinians violence [from the West Bank] is very substantial and is almost constant, with incitement also all the time.”

Further, he warned about “terror financing. Trump did understand this at the start when he stopped giving funds to the Palestinian Authority. We can do something, but it has to start with us.”

Ripple effect dangers from Bedouin, Arab theft, weapons smuggling

Moving on to another issue which Bithonistim wants to highlight, he said, “There are too many illegal stolen and smuggled weapons in the South from Israeli-Bedouins or Israeli-Arabs. Some weapons also get smuggled to Gaza and to the Palestinian Authority” in the West Bank.

He cautioned that this could lead to “70,000 armed fighters from the PA who could march over from Tulkarem and other places into Kfar Saba, Netanya, and other places in Israel and just take over. It can all happen. The IDF fights terror [on a case by case basis], but no one looks at [the broader] phenomenon in terms of the danger of a larger dangerous event.”

In addition, he stated, “We have a substantial project to help strengthen voluntary local security terms for villages in Judea and Samaria. But we need a more complete security response,” to be ready in the event of an invasion.

Mixed Jewish-Arab cities’ gangs pose a danger

Wiener also expressed concern about security in certain rougher mixed Jewish-Arab cities like Lod and Ramle saying, “[Islamic Movement Northern Branch leader] Raed Salah recently announced that he had performed a ‘Sulha’ [truce] for all the Israeli-Arab and Israeli Bedouin crime families after a string of murders. But if he accomplished a Sulha with them, we need to be very worried that he might also be able to activate them to carry out a wave of terror.”

“True, for three years we did not see much active terror against the State from this sector. But there has still been lots of violence. When my son try to go running in Lod, they throw rocks at him,” he continued.

Next, Wiener stated, “There was no rerun of [the] 2021 [Israeli-Arab gang riots] because the State undertook the issue as a major project, and this war was so horrible that if they [the gangs] had made a problem, we would have opened the gates of hell on them. So nothing big happened. I hope this will continue, but none of that means we can ignore it and not deal with it.”

“90% of the violence in Israel comes from the stolen weapons problem. This could, god forbid also get to the rest of the country,” beyond the Israeli-Arab sector, he warned.

Security challenges in Lebanon

Addressing security challenges in Lebanon, Wiener said, “The Lebanese government cannot handle Hezbollah alone. If Israel weakens Hezbollah, then the government of Lebanon could take control. But the way things are today, this could not happen. We need to push for this, even if it has not happened yet.” 

He noted that in March, mid-war, Bithonistim issued a position paper on Lebanon, recommending that, “We need a wider buffer zone, and not just a mere security strip, to provide peace to the northern residents. It needs to extend to the Litani River and the Nabatieh area [10 kilometers into Lebanon]. This is the area where the headquarters are for the Azizi ,Nasr, and Badr units – the three main southern Lebanon divisions of Hezbollah, which need to be taken apart.”

During the current war, he stated, “The IDF moved too slowly at first, and then moved in recent weeks toward Nabatieh, a little bit too late. See what we found at the big headquarters! See what Hezbollah built with Iran and North Korean help over the years.”

“We need to destroy terror infrastructure like the model in Gaza. We will not stay there forever and can leave if Hezbollah disarms, but otherwise may need to hold it for years,” he said.

Pressed that many of his ideas in the Lebanon arena also go against clear US policy, he responded that Israel must be ready to fight for its interests, adding that during the Gaza war, he was present when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back on IDF concerns about shaking up relations with the US.

According to Wiener, Netanyahu responded, “worrying about the US is for me and not for you. We will also be ready to disagree with America,” with Wiener adding, “Trump is not Biden, and he is a friend, and he did a lot for us,” but fundamental Israeli interests come first. 

How did Wiener come to replace Amir Avivi who has run Bithonistim since its founding?

He said Avivi approached him to replace him, wanting himself to retire from the group, with expectations that he will be entering politics.

Wiener said Bithonistim’s mission is also to identify the metaphorical threat of “October 8,” meaning the threat that Israel has not yet prepared for.

With its 55,000 members, including many former senior defense officials, he said the group will continue to, “run programs at pre-IDF academies and for the police. We need more of this and even better programs. Rani Gvili is helping to campaign to get more funds for this. We also do education in high schools. All of these programs need to be expanded.”