Gantz, Eisenkot, Gideon, Deri - it's in your hands. If you don't keep your word and surrender now, you will no longer be able to claim that you are not blackmailers. You have signed an agreement - you will abide by it at all costs.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's decision to tweet about the agreement between the Likud and the state camp and not to extend the IPS commissioner's term and appoint a substitute in her place is a sophisticated and dangerous decision. Sophisticated, because if the government backs this decision, Ben-Gvir becomes acting IPS commissioner overnight. It is dangerous because the minister's policy is to benefit the prisoners of the right, and such a move is worth at least two seats.
Commissioner Perry (archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
The problem with Ben-Gvir is that for him, wars have a beginning but no end. Since taking office, he has been engaged in never-ending wars: a war against the police commissioner, the commissioner, the police commissioners, the attorney general and the people in his office. Ben-Gvir is interested in Ben-Gvir, and his only contribution to state security so far has been sowing total insecurity, not only among the public but also among those in uniform.
Following the commissioner's harsh response to his letter, in which he blatantly accused her of not implementing his policy, Ben-Gvir wondered: Would the chief of staff lash out at the defense minister? Indeed, it is difficult to imagine a chief of staff lashing out at a defense minister. Only in the Gaza Strip today there are commanders who have failed much more. Does anyone dare to close an account with them? On the contrary, they also receive complete backing from the residents of the envelope, even though they have failed to protect them.
Minister Ben-Gvir and Police Commissioner Shabtai, photo: Herzi Shapira
And if that's the argument, then in an interview he gave last Yom Kippur, it was actually the police commissioner who lashed out at Ben-Gvir and accused him of politicizing the police. If these are the allegations, the minister is expected to announce right now that he is kicking out the police commissioner as well.
Even if we assume that the IPS commissioner failed in her duties, is the joint war effort that is needed now to get rid of the person currently in charge of managing the prisons, which have become one big barrel of explosives since the beginning of the war? Do the hundreds of Nukhba terrorists imprisoned in Israel and the rest of the terrorists now deserve a prize in the form of the head of the High Commissioner? Of course not, so everything is political.
Kobi Shabtai will not be remembered as an outstanding police commissioner, and Kathy Perry will not be remembered as a prominent IPS commissioner. What is important now is to give these two organizations organizational stability in order to prepare them for the day after. And if you are a minister and a cabinet member, then so is modesty, compassion and personal example.
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