Ex-IDF general Gal Hirsch joins Ya’alon’s party

Retired IDF Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch, a former candidate for police commissioner, will join Moshe Ya’alon’s new party in order to run in the April elections, Kan news reports.

Hirsch was nominated for the position of police commissioner by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan in August 2015, but shortly after his nomination was announced, media reports surfaced saying that the FBI and Israel Police had been conducting a two-year undercover corruption investigation into businesses linked to him.

Hirsch’s nomination was revoked a month later by Erdan after then-attorney general Yehuda Weinstein said that he could not be legally appointed until the conclusion of the investigation against him, a process that Weinstein said at the time could take months.

In October, state prosecutors closed an investigation into how Hirsch gained a contract to clear mines from a Rishon Lezion beach for the company Defensive Shield, owned jointly by him and others. Prosecutors said they had found no evidence of wrongdoing in the case.

Former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon announced today that he is forming a new political party and will run in April’s elections.

“I’ve made a promise and I’ve kept it,” said Ya’alon in a video posted to his Facebook page. He said he’ll head the party and will soon unveil its slate of candidates.

— Raoul Wootliff