Brig. Gen. (ret.) Gal Hirsch on Monday launched the Magen party, with which he will run for the 21st Knesset in the April 9 election.
"With all my security and social experience, I will aspire to serve in the next government in the important role of the Minister of Public Security, because this is a social role of the highest order," Hirsch said.
Hirsch was nominated for the post of police commissioner in 2015 but withdrew his candidacy after it drew heavy criticism in the media and among some politicians. Most of the criticism was directed at the security company he runs which was investigated over corruption. Police late last year closed a probe into how the company gained a contract to clear mines from a Rishon Lezion beach, saying there was no evidence of wrongdoing in the case.
In his comments on Monday, Hirsch discussed the circumstances that led to him withdrawing his candidacy for police commissioner and said, "I have undergone and continue to undergo drawn out legal proceedings. Unfortunately I was deprived of the right to serve you, and that hurts me the most. I could not fulfill the task that was imposed on me by the prime minister three and a half years ago."
"When I become Minister of Public Security in the next government, I will ensure that we have excellent, high-quality, strong and proud police, and that all security and law enforcement agencies will be balanced. Policing will remain, but the concept of 'excessive policing' will be erased and will disappear," Hirsch added.
He said that his party would be a "social commando and a social-defensive security wall for the State of Israel. We will present to the public a list of fighters for the public, a group of fighters who will operate inside and outside the Knesset. Magen will be your call center in the Knesset.”
Hirsch also mentioned the list he will present for the Knesset but refrained from naming names. "We will have a female social leader who engages in women's empowerment, we will have a female social leader on the list, a lawyer who is constantly helping the plight of the new immigrants and a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor who is a social leader. We will have a local leader on our list, who was born in the northern region and grew up to become a public figure and a multidisciplinary entrepreneur. We will have a social leader, a resident of the Gaza envelope, a leader and educator of leadership in his daily work, a social-haredi leader. We will have an economic leader, a renowned expert in macroeconomics and in the state budget, so that we can stand behind our promises."