Ben Gvir claims AG ‘blackmailing’ head of police: ‘Google chief commissioner construction violations’

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir claims Police Chief Commissioner Daniel Levy has turned against the government because Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara is blackmailing him over alleged construction violations.

The minister offers no evidence for the allegations of blackmail. Police have not commented.

In an interview with the 103FM radio station, Ben Gvir accuses senior police officers of working in tandem with Baharav-Miara to shut down the probe of alleged foreign interference in the October 27 Knesset election, when the government lost its parliamentary majority on the heels of unprecedented Arab voter turnout.

Ben Gvir says the Shin Bet suspects Qatar funneled NIS 100 million ($316 million) to Israel in cash and fuel coupons to encourage voting for Arab parties. He claims attorneys also conveyed “materials” of the Arab-majority Joint List to prisons, where turnout reached 88.7%.

Ben Gvir and his allies in the government have seized on the allegations to say the elections were “stolen.” Unnamed senior officials in the police and Shin Bet have been quoted in Hebrew media accusing Shin Bet chief David Zini of blowing the case out of proportion, and Zini is also said to seek the interrogation of three senior Arab politicians without sufficient evidence.

Asked about reports that Deputy Commissioner Boaz Blatt, head of the police’s Investigations and Intelligence Department, has refused to share information on the case with the Shin Bet, Ben Gvir calls Blatt a “cheat, a liar” and “an envoy of the attorney general for closing cases, cover-ups and sweeping under the rug.”

“Unfortunately, today the chief commissioner is also pretty blackmailed, pretty intimidated by the attorney general,” Ben Gvir says. He adds that he was pleased with Levy for 18 months since appointing him but that the police chief in the past month “made an about-face.”

Pressed on how Baharav-Miara was blackmailing Levy, Ben Gvir says: “She’s pressuring him, she screams at him in meetings… there are all kinds of points she presses.”

Pressed again, Ben Gvir says: “Google ‘chief commissioner construction violations.'”

“See who his building supervisor was,” Ben Gvir says. He notes reports last year that Commander Aryeh Doron, the police spokesperson, and Chief Superintendent Nir Naggar, a general command officer responsible for police stations’ coordination, had helped Levy pick contractors for renovations of the police chief’s Zichron Yaakov home.

Ben Gvir denies knowing of Levy’s alleged violations when vetting the police chief.

The minister has in recent weeks accused Levy of developing an independent streak to curry favor with a prospective new government, including by purportedly ordering police violence toward Haredi anti-enlistment protesters.