Former Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh criticized the so-called "Ben Gvir Law", which will allow the designated Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, to make decisions regarding the Israel Police's enforcement policy.
"The direction Ben Gvir is leading is a tremendous danger to personal security in the State of Israel. He believes he will succeed, I want to tell him something new: He does not understand how to do it," Alsheikh said in an interview with the Yediot Aharonot newspaper, which will be published in full on Friday.
Alsheikh said that that if the agreements between Netanyahu and Ben Gvir had taken place during his term in office - he would not have agreed to remain in office.
"If this thing (Ben Gvir Law) were to come to fruition [during my term], I would have resigned. I would not agree to be the commissioner of a political party. I know what the law says and the danger is very simple. I can guarantee that he will achieve the opposite result of what he’s seeking vis-à-vis personal security. I am trying to be practical and not political, because Ben Gvir doesn't interest me."
Alsheikh recounted the only time he spoke with Ben Gvir, saying, "I am a right-winger, but obviously I did not vote for him. I exchanged maybe one sentence with him. When I concluded my term, he said to me: 'You had the opportunity to have a wonderful term and you missed it.' He meant to say that I was not a commissioner who implemented his ideology."
"I am concerned for the fate of the State of Israel," said the former Commissioner, who also served as deputy head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet). "I am raising grandchildren here, I want them to go to the mall and drive the roads in peace, and that is going to be affected. When the law enforcement system is subject to external political interference, then my trust and the trust of many of the citizens of the State of Israel will drop dramatically, and when it drops, we will in an anarchy here."
Alsheikh explained what he sees as dangerous in Ben Gvir's vision. "I want the public to know that when law enforcement is in the hands of a political party, the result will be more violence and less personal security, but this time on a different scale. And then independent militias will arise that no one has authorized, and they will start guarding. And when they start shooting those they suspect to be criminals, we'll see what happens with the police. That's where we're headed."
To the question of whether Ben Gvir’s political agenda towards the Arab sector will be reflected in the work of the police, Alsheikh replied, "There is no need for any political agenda, the Arab citizen at home just needs to listen to the voices of his politicians, our politicians. The question is what does he understand? If you came to help him - then you expect him to give testimony, not to dismantle the camera after a murder, not to clean the scene of the crime. That he cooperate. Because in the end, if the scene has been cleaned and the backpacks are collected and the camera is dismantled, then the police are less effective."
On Ben Gvir's promise to reduce crime in the south, the former Commissioner said, "Very nice. Now let's say I am a Bedouin in the Negev right now. What does the Bedouin understand? That the police come to serve him or to fight him? Is it possible to fight crime - and not terrorism - without the cooperation of the population where the crime is going on? If you announce that you will explain to them who’s boss, it means that you are not coming to serve the population of the Negev, but that you are marking it as one that must be fought against. There is no other way to interpret it."