Police commissioner voices support for deputy interrogated for breach of trust

Police Commissioner Danny Levy reportedly tells senior officers behind closed doors that he hopes the head of the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit will get back to work soon, after he was interrogated on suspicion of breach of trust and abuse of authority.

“I hope that the head of Lahav 433, Deputy Commissioner Manny Binyamin, will soon return to his post and continue his holy work,” he says, according to Hebrew outlets.

He says that the unit has faced a series of “sensitive and challenging incidents” in recent days and that Binyamin is needed back at the helm of the investigative body. “During his tenure, Lahav was at the peak of its activity,” Levy says, stressing that the unit “must not be harmed” in his absence.

Binyamin was questioned under caution by the Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) last week on suspicion of interfering in a classified investigation in which he had a conflict of interest. He was barred from police facilities for nine days, forbidden from speaking to anyone involved in the case, and had his phone seized from him by investigators after being released.

Binyamin is one of the highest-ranking police officers in the country. He has been promoted in rank twice during National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s time in office.

He assumed his most recent position, helming Lahav 433, in September 2024. It is his job to oversee high-profile investigations, many involving politicians and other public figures.

Channel 13 reports that Deputy Commissioner Boaz Blatt, who heads the police’s investigations and intelligence division, is also backing Binyamin, but in the meantime has instructed his officers to “ignore the headlines and let the DIPI do its work.”

Binyamin’s associate in Lahav 433 tells the outlet that the probe is “an absurd investigation that went too far,” saying Binyamin complied with investigators’ questions and gave them access to his phone.