Court freezes promotion of indicted police officer, in blow to Ben Gvir
Judge says promotion of Meir Suissa, who threw stun grenade at protesters, breached police rules; Ben Gvir denounces terrible decisions, vows to keep backing ‘excellent officer’
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
The Jerusalem District Court issued an interim order late Thursday night freezing the highly controversial promotion of Police Superintendent Meir Suissa and his appointment as commander of the South Tel Aviv Police Station, due to multiple violations of police regulations and administrative procedures in his advancement.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir decided to promote Suissa earlier this year despite him having been indicted in July for negligent behavior over an incident in which he threw a stun grenade into a crowd of protesters in an anti-government demonstration in Tel Aviv in March 2023, injuring a woman and traumatizing her.
Suissa, who has yet to take up the new post, is now legally barred from beginning his new role until a final court decision on the matter.
The Movement for Integrity in Government (Telem), which petitioned the court against Suissa’s appointment, said the ruling should “serve as a message to the Israel Police, which has been reminded that it is subject to the rule of law and the public interest, and not the caprices of Minister Ben Gvir.”
The minister, meanwhile, denounced the court’s decision as “terrible,” accusing it of judicial overreach and lashing out at Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara for not allowing him to independently defend the promotion.
Ben Gvir promoted Suissa to chief superintendent and appointed him as commander of the South Tel Aviv Police Station at the end of August, despite the Attorney General’s Office instructing him that the promotion was impermissible due to violations of police regulations.
During police deliberations in May, it was decided that a decision on Suissa’s promotion depended on the outcome of the legal proceedings against him.
But three days after Suissa was indicted on July 18 by the Department for Internal Police Investigations, Ben Gvir asked the acting police commissioner at the time, Avshalom Peled, who was scheduled to end his tenure three days later, for his position on Suissa’s slated promotion, a necessary step before promoting an officer under indictment.
Judge Nimrod Flax wrote in his ruling that Suissa’s promotion was carried out “via a clear deviation from police regulations,” which required relevant legal and professional officials to evaluate the promotion before it could be made, a process that was not performed.
As such, the judge said the chances of the petition being accepted, and Suissa’s promotion and appointment being annulled, were “good” and that an interim order freezing Ben Gvir’s decision was thus justified.
Flax said that this was especially important given that Suissa had been indicted and because of the general principle within the regulations of the Israel Police that an officer not be promoted if there are legal proceedings against him.
The judge also pointed out that Peled, who recommended to Ben Gvir that Suissa be promoted, had not consulted senior police staff, despite former commissioner Kobi Shabtai having decided before he retired earlier this year that Suissa’s promotion be conditioned on the outcome of the legal proceedings against him.
Flax also wrote that after Suissa was indicted, neither the police’s human resources or disciplinary departments were able to formulate updated positions on his proposed promotion before Peled made his recommendation to Ben Gvir, and that the little weight Peled gave to the indictment in his recommendation to the minister “gives rise to difficulty.”
In addition, the judge contended in his ruling that the extremely brief period between Suissa’s indictment and Peled’s recommendation “raises doubts” as to the ability of the acting commissioner to collate the relevant information in an appropriately thorough manner before giving his approval for the promotion.
“In a situation in which there is an apparent basis [to demonstrate] that the appointment of a police officer to a given post, especially a senior position, was done unlawfully, there is reason for the suspicion that the appointee is not fit for the job,” wrote Flax.
“This could harm the public interest in the existence of a legitimate police service in which qualified police officers who are fitting for their jobs are appointed.”
The Movement for Integrity in Government (Telem), which petitioned the court against Suissa’s appointment, welcomed the ruling, saying that it “stymies the underhanded opportunism of Minister Ben Gvir in appointing an officer who is accused of harming a protester.”
Ben Gvir castigated the court, however, insisting the appointment process had been legitimate.
“The promotion was completely in line with the law and directives, while the one acting against the law is the attorney general, who intervened in the appointment while clearly outside her mandate, and even tried to stop my position from being heard,” he said on X, adding that he plans to keep fighting for the promotion of Suissa, whom he called an “excellent officer.”
