Ex-police chief called Netanyahu’s attacks on him ‘sad’ in leaked recording

Former Israel Police chief Roni Alsheich has criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attacks on him during his tenure, and on the Israel Police over its corruption investigations into the premier’s conduct, calling them “sad.”

Alsheich left the police force last year after a term marked by public feuds with Netanyahu and other senior politicians, and has since kept relatively silent.

“It is truly a problem that we are in a situation in which quite a few within the government are butting heads with the police,” Alsheich said last month at a closed-door lecture, from which leaked recordings were aired Thursday by Channel 12 news.

Recalling some of Netanyahu’s attacks on police — including saying during a speech last year that Alsheich’s successor would have “very significant rehabilitation work” cut out for him — Alsheich said: “That is sad. I cannot judge a person who is in a situation where he needs to publicly defend himself. It is sad.

“I would have expected him to say, ‘I am confident that the law enforcement system will do its job and in the end my innocence will be proven.'”

Alsheich went as far as to hint that the government has intentionally refrained over the past year from appointing a full-time replacement for him, with the police led in the meantime by an acting commissioner so that politicians can retain more influence over the body.

“There are excellent candidates within police who could be commissioner, and don’t let people tell you otherwise,” he said. “That means someone didn’t want to appoint a commissioner. That is very bad. By law, the police commissioner has independence and there is no chance that an acting commissioner will have independence.”

Alsheich last month called for a permanent police chief to be appointed, saying: “The independence of the police is absolutely central to Israeli society. In order for there to be independence, there needs to be a permanent commissioner. It’s unthinkable for us to have gone nine months without a permanent commissioner while everyone is silent.”

The police has been led by interim chief Motti Cohen since December 2, 2018, when Alsheich ended his term, after Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan’s candidate for the post, Moshe Edri, withdrew his candidacy amid a public scandal over his conduct. Since then, the dissolution of the Knesset and the calling of two separate elections have delayed the appointment of a permanent commissioner.

According to Thursday’s report, Alsheich said he had no direct role in the cases against Netanyahu, and that his only involvement was to publicly defend the officers dealing with the investigation.

“I can be confident that my skin is thick enough, but not others — investigators who have children in kindergartens, and I don’t know what will be said about them in kindergarten and what they would bring home,” he said. “In the end, when it starts to be about family — I had to go to proverbial battle.

“It wasn’t a complicated battle — I went to the press once and it stopped,” he added, referring to an interview he had with Channel 12’s investigative program “Uvda.”

Alsheich, who ended his term as Israel’s top cop last year, oversaw the three police investigations into Netanyahu, which ultimately all yielded police recommendations of indictment for bribery and other charges. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has since announced that he plans to indict Netanyahu, and is now set to make a final decision on the matter following a hearing earlier this month.

Alsheich’s four-year term ended after Erdan, who often clashed with the commissioner, declined to extend his tenure by the customary additional year.

Netanyahu, who orchestrated Alsheich’s appointment to the post, had made little secret of his dislike for the police chief over recent years, accusing him of leaking information from the investigations to the press and of conducting a “witch hunt.”

Alsheich has said it is difficult for him to envision a scenario in which Netanyahu is not indicted for bribery in the corruption cases against him.

Raoul Wootliff contributed to this report.