National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is backing the senior police commissioner who was questioned yesterday (Wednesday) by the Police Investigations Department and opposes the appointment of an acting replacement. Ben-Gvir spoke with the commissioner's wife and told him that he is presuming the officer innocent.
Close aides to the minister said that, in their view, the commissioner should remain in his post, despite serving in a sensitive position, "until it is clarified that this is not a politically motivated investigation." They added, "Ben-Gvir has no trust in the Police Investigations Department due to its transformation into the private police of the Attorney General."
The senior officer was questioned by the Police Investigations Department for seven hours and was released to his home under restrictive conditions: removal from all police facilities for nine days and a ban on contacting other individuals involved in the case.
Mst details of the investigation are forbidden for publication, but it can be noted that the officer is involved in some of the police's most significant investigations.
According to the suspicion as conveyed by the Police Investigations Department, the commissioner "intervened in a matter in which he had a conflict of interest, without reporting it, and even acted, in various ways, to influence how the matter was handled within his unit." Other details of the investigation remain classified, but it can be said that it is not connected to the Netanyahu trial, to the Sde Teiman scandal, or to the union corruption investigation.
Following the summoning of the officer for questioning, the police commissioner held a conversation with the senior command staff, in which he announced that the head of the Fraud Unit would assume the questioned officer's position on a temporary basis.