Ben Gvir extends Israel Police chief’s term, resolving war coalition dispute
National security minister agrees to give Shabtai another six months in the post, having insisted last week on firing Prisons Chief Katy Perry
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir extended Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai’s tenure by six months on Wednesday, the minister announced after the issue caused political tension in the past week.
The extension, under which Shabtai will remain in the post until July 17, will be brought to the cabinet for formal approval next week.
Shabtai thanked Ben Gvir and promised to “keep fighting for the safety of Israel’s citizens and leading Israel Police as long as necessary.”
The two men have had an up-and-down relationship and the minister had said in June that he would not extend Shabtai’s term by the customary year.
Ben Gvir announced the move a week after he said he would not extend Israel Prison Service (IPS) Commissioner Katy Perry’s term despite a political deal that required him to do so.
Both Shabtai and Perry were due to end their tenures in January, and both had previously said they did not intend to seek to extensions, but that changed after the Hamas onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, and the subsequent Israel-Hamas work.
As part of an agreement Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud made with Benny Gantz’s National Unity party when the latter joined the coalition as part of an emergency wartime government, senior state officials were not to be replaced during the war, and their tenures were supposed to be extended.
In keeping with the deal, Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich gave Bank of Israel Governor Prof. Amir Yaron a second five-year term last month.
However, last week, Ben Gvir said he would not extend Perry’s tenure and did not commit to keeping Shabtai on either.
Ben Gvir cited insubordination and an irreparable breakdown of trust between him and Perry as his motivation for replacing her, and she in turn called him irresponsible.
The conflict caused a rift between Ben Gvir and Gantz that Likud worked throughout the last week to settle.
“We are committed to an agreement on the extension of senior appointments,” the Likud party said in a statement last week. “On the other hand, we understand the difficulty Minister Ben Gvir has in working with an IPS chief who is subordinate to him after she spoke out against him publicly and personally.”
Earlier this week, the Prime Minister’s Office legal counsel Shlomit Barnea informed Netanyahu that he was not allowed to get involved in appointing police chiefs, according to Channel 13. The problem, Barnea wrote, was that this would cause a conflict of interest as Netanyahu is currently on trial.
Shas leader MK Aryeh Deri also encouraged Ben Gvir to honor the agreement between National Unity and Likud, but the national security minister indicated that he did not see himself as bound by it.
According to a Kan report last week, National Unity eventually agreed to let Ben Gvir end Perry’s term and appoint an interim IPS chief.
