Police question Ben Gvir aide, prisons chief amid probe into tolerance for settler violence

Israel Prisons Chief Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi and Chanamel Dorfman, a close aide to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, are summoned by the Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) for questioning under caution, in connection with a probe into negligent policing of settler violence in the West Bank.

The DIPI obtained a conditional arrest order against Dorfman from the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court today, which it requested because Dorfman declined to say whether he would present himself for questioning, although he did eventually do so of his own accord.

Yaakobi and Dorfman were summoned for questioning today following new developments in the investigation, after police gleaned information pertinent to the case from Dorfman’s phone, which had been confiscated earlier this year.

Commander Avishai Muallem, head of the Judea and Samaria Police District’s investigations and intelligence department, is suspected of deliberately failing to properly carry out investigations into Jewish, far-right extremists in the West Bank in order to curry favor with Ben Gvir.

Dorfman, who formerly served as Ben Gvir’s chief of staff in the ministry, is suspected of trying to influence police investigations regarding Jewish extremists in the Judea and Samaria police district, and was in contact with Muallem over such investigations.

Yaakobi is under suspicion for allegedly having informed Muallem that he was a central suspect in the investigation, which would constitute obstruction and breach of trust. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara announced in July that she is considering filing an indictment, subject to a hearing, against Yaakobi, although such an indictment is yet to be served.

Ben Gvir, in response, accuses Baharav-Miara of “operating DIPI as a private militia for settling scores and stitching up cases to eliminate right-wing rule,” and dubs her “the criminal who has been fired” in reference to the government’s efforts to remove her from office.

The far-right minister says he gives Yaakobi and Dorfman his full backing and says they are both examples of “exemplary civil servants who are dedicated to the State of Israel.”