Ben Gvir says he’ll recommend firing police chief, weeks before term due to end
National security minister cites Shabtai’s ‘general disfunction,’ failures in prep for Meron closure; sources near commissioner dismiss claims, slam Ben Gvir’s ‘thuggish behavior’
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir announced on Monday that he will recommend the termination of Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, months after extending the police chief’s tenure, during a political dispute.
In a statement, Ben Gvir said the recommendation came in light of the commissioner’s performance during Hamas’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel. A letter to Shabtai quoted in the statement pointed to “mounting allegations” of general disfunction that “have a negative impact on the Israel Police in general, and in this wartime period in particular.”
Examples of Ben Gvir’s complaints against the police commissioner included failure to attend an assessment on plans to close the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai on Mount Meron for Lag B’Omer this week, given concerns of a rocket attack by Hezbollah. Clashes broke out over the weekend between police and ultra-Orthodox pilgrims to Meron, when hundreds arrived at the tomb in violation of orders that deemed the site off-limits.
“According to senior police officers, you were completely ‘out of touch,'” Ben Gvir charged in the letter, while adding an accusation that Shabtai only promotes officers close to him.
He also wrote that Shabtai has failed to hold “in-depth meetings and status updates” on crime in the Arab community, despite being instructed to do so and raised complaints about failure to implement orders “regarding vehicle thefts, traffic accidents, recruitment, implementation of budgets, procurement and general management of the police.”
Ben Gvir noted that a state commission of inquiry in March had named Shabtai as one of a number of officials personally responsible for the 2021 Meron disaster and said that were it not for the ongoing war in Gaza it would have recommended his termination. The statement recalled that the commission had instead recommended that the government determine the appropriate date for his term to end.
The national security minister has already selected Deputy Commissioner Avshalom Peled as the next police commissioner, as Shabtai’s tenure was already due to end on July 17.
Responding to Ben Gvir’s announcement, sources close to the police commissioner were quoted by Hebrew media as saying that the letter was delivered in an unorthodox manner, which they said was “a resounding testimony to the indecorous and thuggish behavior of a minister who does not accept the law.”
The sources charged that Ben Gvir has been “violently trying to take over the police and turn it into a private militia,” according to the Ynet news site and the Israel Hayom newspaper.
Ben Gvir and Shabtai have had an up-and-down relationship. The minister threatened last year not to extend the police commissioner’s term by the customary year, triggering a spat with National Unity chair Benny Gantz that was ultimately negotiated by the Likud party.
Shabtai had been due to end his tenure in January, and had previously said he would not seek an extension, but changed his decision after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Ben Gvir’s Monday statement said that Shabtai had been summoned to a hearing on the matter next Wednesday, after which he will make his recommendation to the government.
