The op-ed section of the ultraleftist Haaretz newspaper featured a vicious attack Wednesday against the appointment of the Deputy Head of the Israel Security Agency (the ISA, or Shin Bet), Roni Alsheich, as the next Police Commissioner.
Alsheich – a former resident of Kiryat Arba and Kochav Hashahar, both of which are in Judea and Samaria – is the man chosen by Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan for the job, after opposition by the attorney general made it too difficult for Erdan to appoint his first pick, Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch.
The writer, Sefi Rachlevsky, claimed that unlike the current ISA head, who also wears a kippah but is a “pragmatist,” Alsheich is a follower of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook.
Alsheich is “messianic, brilliant,” and “lives theology,” claimed Rachlevsky, who has authored a book that warns secular leftists against the alleged dangers of religious “messianism.”
"There were some people in the ISA who feared his ideological influence if he became ISA head,” Rachlevsky added, and explained that these unnamed people were concerned that Alsheich would push the ISA “to a theology beyond that of Ofer Winter, and with more sophistication and creativity.”
Winter caused great grief in leftist circles when, as Commander of the Givati Brigade, he invoked God in a pre-battle order in Operation Protective Edge.
Rachlvesky went on to describe the apparent opinions of Alsheich's family members, which the writer seemed to have gleaned through their Facebook pages. “Alsheich's wife and children usually share – beside acts of community charity – one subject: that 'we have to be the rulers here,' and anger at policemen who do nothing vis-a-vis the Arabs in eastern Jerusalem and Umm el-Fahm... The Police Commissioner, who is supposed to serve all citizens regardless of religion, opinion and race, is connected to this familial rage,” the leftist pundit warned.
Alsheich should apparently be disqualified for the position of commissioner, according to Rachlevsky, because of his very residence in Judea and Samaria. Such residence is illegal, he argued, claiming that it violates international law.