Democrats chief Golan levels ‘explicit threat’ against police chief after report links Levy to former Netanyahu aide

By Sam Sokol 23 December 2024, 4:35 pm

4 Edit

Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

The Democrats party leader Yair Golan leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on December 9, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Democrats chief Yair Golan levels what his spokesman describes as an “explicit threat” at Police Commissioner Daniel Levy in the wake of a recent investigative report linking Levy to a former senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Netanyahu and [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir will not always be here to protect you. On the day following the current government, the truth will come out and if necessary, we will also hold you to account,” Golan warns Levy.

“Personal loyalty to Netanyahu at the expense of loyalty to the law, the state, and its citizens is not only a moral and ethical error — it is a serious criminal offense,” he states.

On Monday, Levy admitted to a “longstanding friendship” with Netanyahu’s late aide Hanni Bleiweiss after previously denying the matter.

Police Commissioner Daniel Levy near the scene of a stabbing attack at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City on September 15, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

An investigative report aired last week by Channel 12’s “Uvda” television show about the dealings of the premier’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, and allegations she acted to intimidate and harass those she viewed as her family’s enemies also touched on Bleiweiss’s close ties to Levy over the years, before his becoming police chief. Bleiweiss died last year.

The report claimed Bleiweiss had talked Levy up to Sara Netanyahu, and that he himself had offered messages of support for the premier through her.

“Regarding the reports, I wish to clarify that my relationship with the late Ms. Hanni Bleiweiss was a longstanding friendship, devoid of any interests or political considerations,” Levy wrote in a letter to members of the force.

Sara Netanyahu is “responsible for her actions” but so is the prime minister who “enables these moves,” Golan continues, accusing Netanyahu of using his wife “as a smokescreen.”

Responding to Golan, Ben Gvir says the opposition politician’s statement constituted “a dangerous crossing of a red line and an intolerable threat to the rule of law.”

“Anyone who threatens the Israel Police commissioner directly harms democracy and the law enforcement system, and proves once again how disconnected and irresponsible he is,” Ben Gvir charges in a statement.