A few weeks before the end of Police Commissioner Rabbi Kobi Shabtai's term, and in light of the appointment, as not yet known, of the next police commissioner, National Camp Chairman Benny Gantz calls on Prime Minister Netanyahu: "Interview the candidates for police commissioner yourself, be involved in this process. This critical decision must not be left to Ben-Gvir to the State of Israel and its citizens."
Gantz held a tour of personal security and governance in the north on Tuesday, together with MK Gadi Eisenkot and MK Alon Schuster, at the end of which he issued a statement to the media.
"The State of Israel is burning from within. Its fields are burning, its streets are burning, the roads are burning, the sports fields are burning – and the government is burning," Gantz said. "We are finishing another tour, and meeting with farmers and business owners who presented us with the chaos," he said. What begins with protection paid by the state in "guard fees" turns into a fatal blow to the livelihood and existence of businesses, and continues to murders between gangs and harm to innocent people.
"In order to deal with this phenomenon, an in-depth plan is required, alongside an emergency plan as we presented in the state camp –
the first of the axes is immediate reinforcement of skilled forces and the construction of a dedicated unit in Lahav 443 that will deal with criminal organizations, the construction of the National Guard on the basis of the Border Police and the police, and as part of the Israel Police, alongside economic measures that will provide economic security vis-à-vis protection and empty it of content."
Regarding Ben-Gvir, Gantz said: "There are things that are not only related to legislation and regulation, but to the ability, management and desire to deal with the phenomenon. My opinion that Minister Ben-Gvir should be replaced and that a serious person with the appropriate qualifications should be placed in the position, I have already voiced, and I repeat it today. At the same time, Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai will soon leave his position. The appointment of a police commissioner is carried out in the government, and I call on the prime minister to remember his supreme responsibility, to use his authority, and to interview the candidates for police commissioner himself and to be involved in this process. This critical decision must not be left to Ben-Gvir to the State of Israel and its citizens."
He added: "Whoever records the police commissioner and leaks from sensitive discussions, whoever fails every day to manage personal security, whoever is an anti-state figure, cannot appoint a commissioner at this time. Placing the choice in his hands is tantamount to abandoning the personal security of every citizen of Israel."
Gantz also referred to an incident that was widely documented and condemned, in which ultra-Orthodox Jews spat on Christian clerics. According to him, "phenomena that contradict the entire Jewish ethos of 'beloved every human being created in the image' end up spitting in front of Christian clerics." Gantz also referred to the statement made by the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, which he said was "a harsh statement that harms entire parts of Israeli society, and he should retract and clarify his words in an unequivocal manner. This is important for Israeli society as a whole."
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