Main Edition
US
FR
June 19, 2024 - 4:00pm
While the collapse of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet has garnered the attention of the international media, within Israel focus has turned to a pending Supreme Court decision on how the country’s police force is run. If approved, this proposed amendment to the Police Ordinance law would give the Minister of National Security — currently Itamar Ben-Gvir of the far-Right Jewish Strength party — direct control over the police, making him the operational commander, instead of a political overseer. This would mean that Ben-Gvir could legally block investigations into settler violence and order the arrest and harassment of anti-government protesters.
The original amendment to the Police Ordinance law was passed by the Knesset in December, but legal challenges — including by the Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara — have prevented its implementation until now. Baharav-Miara warned that changes to the oversight of investigations in particular would cause “serious damage to the independence of the law enforcement system” and “should give any Israeli sleepless nights”.
When he was originally appointed as Minister of National Security in December 2022, the Supreme Court issued an injunction preventing Ben-Gvir from interfering with the work of the police. However, Israel’s most senior police officer, Chief Superintendent Kobi Shabtai, reports that he has already violated this decision by ordering his deputy to prevent the police from protecting trucks transporting aid to Gaza.
When Shabtai contacted Ben-Gvir to make it clear that this was a police matter in which he should not interfere, Ben-Gvir warned him that “there would be consequences” for his insubordination. Yesterday, Shabtai travelled to Jerusalem to try and give evidence ahead of the Supreme Court decision on the proposed change, but was not allowed to speak to the court as the judges ruled that his evidence was not pertinent to the case. Israel’s Channel 12 News interviewed Shabtai outside the court, where he said that he was acting “out of deep fear for the future of the Israeli police as a professional, apolitical force”.
Ben-Gvir has long made plain his intentions to politicise the police, calling for any anti-government protester who blocks roads to be arrested and interrogated as a possible terrorist sympathiser. If the Court approves the new law, then he would have free rein to use the police to attack and harass critics of the government and, given Ben-Gvir’s feelings on such matters, he could legally prevent investigations into violence by settlers.
These developments highlight the significant changes taking place within Israel while the world focuses on the ongoing military campaign. Fighting a war can change the structure of governments in unexpected ways. It is accepted that Netanyahu collapsed the war cabinet rather than admit Ben-Gvir, and Bibi has won some grudging plaudits for keeping him and fellow Religious Zionist Bezalel Smotrich at a safe distance from prosecution of the war. But this has occluded the increased influence of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich in other areas, which may have longer-term and more serious implications for Israel.
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
Subscribe