AG examining ‘various information’ on Gal Hirsch’s business ties
Announcement comes as public security minister is urged to rethink nomination of ex-IDF officer as police chief
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein is looking into new information he received regarding companies linked to former Israel Defense Forces officer Gal Hirsch, who was named this week as the government’s choice to head the Israel Police, Channel 10 television reported Friday.
According to the report, Weinstein’s office said he has recently received “various information pertaining to the activities of civilian companies, whose activities were connected to Gal Hirsch in the years following his departure from the IDF.”
Furthermore, the statement from Weinstein said, “A team comprising members of the Justice Ministry will investigate the issue and compile their findings as soon as possible, and present them to (me) in order to formulate a legal position on the matter.”
Weinstein did not provide any further details about the information he has received. Army Radio said that once the team presents its report, the attorney general will publish his position on whether Hirsch’s appointment should go ahead.
After leaving the IDF under a cloud of controversy following the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Hirsch became CEO of Defensive Shield Holdings, a company that describes itself as “provider of strategic, operational and tactical solutions for the defense, security and homeland security sectors around the world.”
A once-promising senior officer in the IDF, Hirsch was forced out of active duty in the wake of the 2006 war, amid criticism over his failure to prevent the kidnapping and killing of two soldiers that led to the conflict.
Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon welcomed Hirsch’s nomination by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan this week, saying that the 51-year-old former warrior had the skills to take Israel’s scandal-struck police force in a new direction.
But senior members of the police responded furiously to the nomination, calling it a “spit in the face.” Some families of IDF soldiers who fell in the 2006 war also protested the appointment, holding a demonstration outside Erdan’s home. They called off the protest Friday after meeting with Erdan, saying the minister had pledged to reevaluate the appointment.
Erdan had defended Hirsch, saying he was “surprised” by the intense criticism, according to a report in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily Friday.
“I accept the criticism, and I also expected it,” said Erdan. “But I am surprised at the intensity of it, and the style.”