Moshe 'Chico' Ederi's bid to succeed Police Commisioner Roni Alsheikh as Israel's top law enforcement official hit a snag as the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee is unable to decide whether to confirm Ederi's nomination.
The Advisory Committee, also known as the Goldberg Committee, is responsible for vetting senior civil service officials, including the Police Commissioner, the IDF Chief of Staff, and the Governor of the Bank of Israel.
As part of the vetting process, the committee had ordered Ederi to undergo a polygraph test on Wednesday, which reports said he passed succesfully. The committee also recieved a report written by the State Comtroller regarding Ederi's conduct when he headed the police's traffic division.
Following Ederi's succesfull polygraph, the committee was expected to confirm his appointment when they met on Thursday.
According to Channel 2 however, the committee is undecided and is unable to reach a conclusion regarding Ederi, making the future of his candidacy uncertain.
Numerous allegations of improper behavior by Ederi have surfaced recently, including accusations that he framed a cab driver who told him that he was driving recklessly. The said cab driver had already related his experience with Ederi to the Goldenberg Committee.
"The committee deemed it appropriate to hear two of the complainants, and also received general information from the Israel Police on the subject of discipline in the organization,” the committee said earlier this week in a statement.
Maariv reported on Thursday that Ederi believes that the damaging allegations are being engineered by Jerusalem District Commander Yoram Halevi, who seeks to torpedo his candidacy and be appointed in Ederi's stead. Edri had beaten out Halevi to replace retiring Police Commisioner Roni Alsheikh.
An Ederi confidant told Maariv that "there are those who believe that if Chico's candidacy is disqualified, then Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan will decide on Halevi as his candidate for the post. People are going down so low and and it is not clear why."