The far right has captured Israel’s police
ISRAEL HAS long stood out as a raucous democracy in a region with precious little of it. But on a recent Saturday in Tel Aviv police officers demanded to see the placards of protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and for early elections. The police justified this breach of freedom of expression by claiming it was to ensure there was no “incitement”. In fact, it was a sign of how the police have been politicised in the 18 months they have been under the control of Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Mr Ben-Gvir, who leads Jewish Power, a far-right and openly anti-Arab party, was once on the distant margins of Israeli politics and seen as such a threat to national security that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) refused to recruit him. Now, as national-security minister, he is central to the coalition keeping Binyamin Netanyahu in office as prime minister.
The power he wields is worrying. Though the understaffed and demoralised police have never had the cachet of the IDF, Mr Ben-Gvir campaigned to head the ministry in charge of the force, promising to make it clear “who is the landlord”.
One of the first laws passed by the new government gave the minister operational control over the police. The attorney-general and the Supreme Court have blocked its implementation, but Mr Ben-Gvir has put his imprint on the police by appointing compliant officers. Kobi Shabtai, the outgoing police commissioner, warned on July 14th that “the fight against the politicisation of the police…is at its peak”.
Mr Ben-Gvir’s proposed replacement for him, Avshalom Peled, is short on experience and was censured after being investigated in 2015 on suspicion of breach of trust and abuse of office. (A police spokesman reportedly said this was merely a “commander’s warning” and that he is a decorated officer.) But he is loyal to the minister. So far a civil-service committee has blocked the appointment. But this has not stopped Mr Ben-Gvir from making him acting commissioner.
“Ben-Gvir combines a fascistic ideology with total incompetence at running large organisations,” says his predecessor, Omer Bar-Lev, a Labour politician. “He has found that the only way he can influence the police is by intimidating officers by blocking their promotion.” One example was the chief of Tel Aviv’s force, who was forced out for being seen as soft on anti-government protesters. His successor’s approach has included the excessive use of horse charges and water cannons.
Mr Ben-Gvir has protected officers accused of violence. The commander of a riot squad who threw a percussion grenade into a crowd, nearly tearing the ear off a protester, is to become a station chief.
The minister’s influence is felt also in the West Bank, where the police have jurisdiction over Jewish settlers. Although settler violence has spiked, the number of investigations into it fell by half in the first 12 months of Mr Ben-Gvir’s term. The Shin Bet internal-security agency requested action against 15 Israeli “targets”, but the police acted in only three cases.
Instead, the police opened nearly 600 investigations into Palestinians with Israeli citizenship accused of online “support for terror” between October and April, some for acts as innocuous as posting a picture of Palestine’s flag. The state prosecutor has said that in some cases the police acted without authority. Mr Ben-Gvir has also raised tensions by easing restrictions on Jews praying on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, or al-Aqsa compound, a site holy to Muslims and Jews. And he has ordered officers not to guard aid convoys on their way to alleviate hunger in Gaza from attack by Jewish extremists.
Under Mr Ben-Gvir, homicides (not related to terrorist attacks) more than doubled last year, to 299. Most of these take place among Israeli Palestinians, who are just 20% of the population. Perhaps this is because Mr Ben-Gvir has dropped the previous government’s plan to reduce gun crime in Arab communities. “The police force is failing its basic missions and competent officers are leaving in droves,” says Amnon Alkalay, a former deputy commissioner. “They’re failing to attract new officers and the force has had to lower the minimum requirements for candidates.”
Still, the force suffered from low morale and public mistrust well before Mr Ben-Gvir took charge. Mr Netanyahu has long held a grudge against it for investigating his alleged corruption. In 2015 his government named Roni Alsheikh as commissioner. Mr Netanyahu may have hoped that this former deputy head of the Shin Bet would devote resources to counter-terrorism. Instead Mr Alsheikh authorised investigations into the prime minister’s affairs, for which Mr Netanyahu, who denies wrongdoing, is now on trial. Determined to shift the police’s focus, the government then appointed Mr Shabtai, who had spent most of his career in the paramilitary Border Police, rather than detecting crimes.
Relations between the prime minister and his national-security minister are fraying. Mr Netanyahu refuses to admit Mr Ben-Gvir to the small group of ministers directing Israel’s war against Hamas. And he has quietly transferred some of the minister’s responsibilities for counter-terrorism to other departments. Mr Ben-Gvir has responded by blocking government legislation. Mr Netanyahu cannot fire him, however, as that would mean losing his majority. Though the prime minister does not want Mr Ben-Gvir involved in running the war, he seems happy to let him undermine the integrity of Israel’s police. ■
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