Police chief reinstates senior officer suspected of ignoring settler violence to appease Ben Gvir

Israel Police chief Danny Levy decided to allow Cdr. Avishai Muallem, a police officer currently under criminal probe, to return to the force after a six-month suspension from his post, Hebrew outlets report.

Muallem formerly led the police investigations and intelligence unit in the West Bank. He is suspected of papering over Jewish nationalist crimes to win the favor of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, in hopes of a promotion.

Ben Gvir commends Levy’s decision, calling Muallem “a respected, highly experienced officer” who suffered “persecution from the Shin Bet.”

“I believe in his innocence and am sure that he will yet be promoted in rank — as befits a man who acted with integrity and dedication,” he continues in a post on X.

The far-right leader lambasts the Shin Bet, saying that it is the agents who demanded Muallem “break the law and harm settlers who should be removed from their positions, not the officer who refused to do so.”

He refers to a phone call leaked by Muallem in which he and a high-ranking official in the agency’s Jewish Division are heard arguing over how to deal with settler violence, with the latter enjoining him to crack down on Jewish nationalist crime.