A year has passed since the Israel Police sent Sub-Commissioner Yoav Talam on a media tour.
These days were the days of Tomer Ganon's exposure from "Calcalist", according to which the police operate spyware against citizens, without authorization and in violation of the law.
Tanz Talem is every publicist's dream: he is a handsome, eloquent, charismatic and trust-inspiring person, the right man for the task of dispelling the horrifying allegations regarding the criminal espionage set up by the police.
Indeed - Telam did not disappoint.
He vehemently denied it on the radio, dismissed the claims on television and became the media showcase in the great denial operation.
Talem's success was impressive, and his commanders decided to send him to the Knesset, where he reassured the elected officials that "the police do not spy on citizens."
A year has passed, and since then it has become clear that the police are definitely spying on citizens, and Talm was invited to appear - this time on the witness stand in the Netanyahu trial, wearing his hat as the director of the 4000 case investigation.
In court, Talm was asked about the spies, and then it became clear that his campaign of denials was false and intentional.
Telam not only admitted that surveillance cameras were installed against the law, he also stated in court: "I spoke on television about technological measures that I did not understand."
He actually admitted that he lied to the public through the media on purpose, and that he lied to elected officials on a sensitive issue that concerns the most basic civil rights - and that he knew nothing about it at all.
It is doubtful if there is a single democracy in the world where a senior officer who admits that he maliciously lied to the public and the House of Representatives would have remained in office one more minute.
It is doubtful whether he would have escaped prosecution.
But her puzzling immunity from Talm's Bible is only half the trouble. The little story in which he was sent to the studios to lie to the masses isn't even the most serious thing that came out of his testimony in court. Talm distanced himself, constantly claiming that he didn't know about the things in real time. He He also admitted that the pressures and tactics applied to those investigated in the case were extremely unusual - intrusive and humiliating searches, sleep deprivation with various and different arguments, illegal interference in the representation of suspects and executive misconduct, among others.
Among other things, Talam was present at the meeting where it was approved to bring an innocent civilian, against whom no suspicion of any kind arose, to the interrogation room, to perform an exercise of the type that was carried out in Nir Hefetz.
Without violating the gag order, it can be said that during her investigation, intimate questions were asked early in the morning, as part of an investigative exercise that is considered borderline even in democratic countries.
Regarding the core of the case, Talam admitted that basic and vital tests were not done.
Even if Netanyahu is a corruption conglomerate, he dropped huge tenders for tycoons who reward him with a sympathetic and caressing media;
And even if dipped in pink champagne while smoking a submarine cigar;
The details emerging from the investigation of the manager of Case 4000 must lead to the immediate dismissal of Yoav Telam, and the prosecution of other officers and policemen.
But the law enforcement authorities in Israel, those who planted spies and illegally attacked citizens, are given total immunity.
This is the bitter reality that cannot be obscured, even when sending beautiful faces to studios.
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