Former Labor MK, senior police official Moshe Mizrahi dies at 72

In final public comments, Mizrahi lamented proposed legislation giving unprecedented powers to new post of national security minister

By Michael Horovitz

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11 December 2022, 4:42 pm

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Michael Horovitz is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel

File: Then-Labor MK Moshe Mizrahi seen arriving at the opening session of Israel's 19th parliament, Jerusalem, on February 5, 2013. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

Former Knesset member and police investigations chief Moshe Mizrahi died Sunday, aged 72.

Mizrahi spent most of his career in the Israel Police force. He served as a lawmaker for the Labor Party in 2013-2015 and again in 2018-2019 for Zionist Union.

There were no details on the cause of Mizrahi’s death. His funeral will be held Monday at Hadid Cemetery outside Tel Aviv.

In his final post on Facebook on Friday, Mizrahi criticized a bill proposed by Otzma Yehudit party chair Itamar Ben Gvir and Likud that would give the far-right lawmaker unprecedented authority over the police force in the newly created post of national security minister.

“How much damage will be done before the light returns now depends entirely on the backbone of the system’s leaders and the civil servants,” he wrote.

Mizrahi was born September 20, 1950, in the northern city of Tiberias. In 1968, he enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces and volunteered for the elite Egoz reconnaissance unit. He was released early after losing his right eye in a training accident.

Then-Labor MK Moshe Mizrahi (center) seen during an introduction day for new lawmakers, in the Knesset, Jerusalem, on February 3, 2013. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

Mizrahi went on to study law at Tel Aviv University and joined the police in 1976 as a prosecutor.

In 1993, Mizrahi was appointed head of the police’s Judea district in the West Bank. In 1997, he became head of the Unit of International Crime Investigations and spearheaded a number of high-profile probes, among them a corruption investigation into the then-director general of the Prime Minister’s Office, Avigdor Liberman. Liberman was ultimately not charged.

Mizrahi was appointed to lead the police’s Investigations Department in 2000. He was removed from his position in 2004 by then-public security minister Gideon Ezra, over allegations of misuse of wiretapping during the investigation into Liberman.

However, he was not forced to retire from the police, and served as head of the Civil Guard until his retirement in 2006.

President Isaac Herzog expressed his grief over the passing of his former Labor colleague.

“I was lucky to work with him, shoulder to shoulder in the Knesset, and I cherish him as a man of law and justice as well as a family man, a soulful artist and a gifted painter,” Herzog wrote on Twitter.

Outgoing public security minister Omer Barlev tweeted his condolences to Mizrahi’s family, and shared his personal experience with the former lawmaker.

“Moshe impressed me from the very first moment with his integrity, his pursuit of justice, and above all, that he preserved his values,” he said.