A Shin Bet veteran, Mr Diskin took over as Shin Bet’s chief in May.

His speech to the students at the Eli settlement as they prepared for military service was secretly recorded and broadcast on Israeli TV.

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The security chief was also asked to compare the treatment of Jews and non-Jews by Israel’s security and judicial establishments. “I do not see equality in the way the system handles them when they are guilty of the same type of offence,” he said. “If I had arrested a terrorist from Nablus and Eden Nathan Zaada [an Israeli army deserter who shot dead four Israeli Arabs on a bus in August], they wouldn’t have received similar treatment in interrogation or court.” Mr Diskin also said he thought Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had made a mistake when he withdrew the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip last year without ensuring the Palestinian Authority could fill the security vacuum. Yuval Diskin said a strong dictatorship would be preferable to the present “chaos” in Iraq, in a speech to teenage Jewish settlers in the West Bank. He also said the Israeli security services and judiciary treated Arabs and Jewish suspects differently.

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