Delegitimization Department
Research-division department of Israeli Military Intelligence that monitors overseas groups, including BDS organisations
| Delegitimization Department | |
|---|---|
| Dates | c. 2011– |
| Country | Israel |
| Branch | Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman) |
| Type | Research department |
| Role | Intelligence research on overseas organisations regarded by the IDF as seeking to "delegitimise" Israel, including Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) groups |
| Command structure | Research Division (Aman) |
| Garrison | |
| Battles | |
| Commander | |
| Title | |
| Website | |
The Delegitimization Department is a department of the Research Division of Israel's Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman). Haaretz first reported the creation of a Military Intelligence research-division department focused on overseas "left-wing" organisations in March 2011, and in August 2015 named the unit the Delegitimization Department.[1][2] According to Haaretz, the department was established as part of the lessons drawn after the May 2010 Mavi Marmara raid, when IDF commandos boarded a Gaza-bound flotilla vessel and nine foreign nationals were killed (a tenth later died in 2014 after four years in a coma).[2][1]
Mandate and methods
Haaretz reported in 2011 that the Research Division had created the department several months earlier to monitor overseas organisations the army regarded as aiming to "delegitimise" Israel, and that it would work with government ministries.[1] The same report said the unit would monitor Western groups involved in boycotting Israel, divesting from it or imposing sanctions on it; collect information on groups seeking war-crimes or other charges against senior Israeli officials; and examine possible links between such organisations and terror groups.[1] The head of the new unit had taken part in discussions in the Prime Minister's Office about a possible further Gaza-bound flotilla.[1]
In August 2015 Haaretz reported that among the overseas organisations monitored were dozens affiliated with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and that monitoring of each BDS-linked group was approved in advance by a senior Research Division officer, after a decision not to follow groups that had only indirect contacts with Israeli activists.[2] According to that report the department does not monitor groups working inside Israel with the same goals; the IDF said it does not collect information on Israeli citizens, and that that role belongs to the Shin Bet.[2]
As part of its work the department also gathered material that the IDF presented as evidence of Hamas violations of international law during the 2014 Gaza war (Operation Protective Edge).[2]
Relationship with other bodies
The 2011 Haaretz report said the unit had the support of Brigadier General (reserve) Yosef Kuperwasser, then director-general of the Strategic Affairs Ministry and a former head of Military Intelligence's Research Division.[1] Some officials in the Foreign Ministry told Haaretz they were concerned about the breadth of a "delegitimisation" mandate and questioned what added value Military Intelligence would provide.[1]
Domestic monitoring of Israeli citizens involved in what the security services regard as "delegitimisation" activity is, according to the 2015 Haaretz report, the responsibility of the Shin Bet. BDS activists have reported being contacted by a Shin Bet officer who called herself "Rona"; Re'ut Mor, a media consultant for the Joint Arab List, said in June 2015 that she was questioned by "Rona" after returning from a trip abroad about a Gaza flotilla and about her positions on BDS, the IDF and Zionism.[2]
See also
- Aman
- Shin Bet
- Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy
- Yosef Kuperwasser
- Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
- Unit 8200
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Barak Ravid, Military Intelligence Monitoring Foreign Left-wing Organizations Haaretz, 21 March 2011, accessed 9 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Gili Cohen, Israel's Military Intelligence Monitoring Dozens of BDS Groups Around the World Haaretz, 18 August 2015, archived at archive.ph/pIjXP, accessed 9 November 2026.