Top West Bank cop accused of faking probes of settler violence to please Ben Gvir, gain promotion

The Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) lifts a gag order on the name of one of the senior police officers suspected of severe misconduct involving a systematic refusal to investigate incidents of suspected Jewish nationalism attacks, in order to earn advancement on the police force.

The officer named in the scandal is head of the Judea and Samaria District investigations and intelligence department Commander Avishai Muallem. Alongside Muallem, another senior police officer from the same district whose name has not yet been disclosed is being investigated, while Israel Prison Service Chief Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi is also a suspect in the affair.

DIPI states that Muallem, together with the other senior office from his district, is suspected of having “carried out irregular activities in the framework of their positions with the goal of influencing their advancement in the Israel Police, while deviating from the path for dealing with cases of nationalistic crime.”

Yaakobi is suspected of having informed Muallem that he was the subject of an undercover DIPI investigation, before the investigation was made public.

According to Ynet, DIPI suspects Muallem of conducting sham investigations into acts of Jewish nationalistic crimes in the West Bank merely to give the appearance that an investigation had been conducted without bringing the perpetrators to account.

The scandal was broken open earlier this month when DIPI officers raided Muallem’s home earlier this month, arrested him, and detained Yaakobi for questioning.

Muallem’s lawyer Ephraim Dimri claimed that the investigation was politically motivated and said Muallem was implementing orders by more senior officials and “the policies of the minister responsible for him,” in reference to ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Yaakobi claims that he did not violate any laws in informing Muallem about the investigation.

Ben Gvir’s office said in response to the publication of Muallem’s name that “what DIPI is investigating is fulfilling the minister’s policies, which is adherence to equal policies: the law for a hilltop youth is the same as for a left-wing youth.”

The statement added that when Ben Gvir became minister he “made clear that there will not be selective persecution of right-wing people,” and that the days of “unlawfully harming the hilltop youth” had ended.

“Hilltop youth” refers to radical settler activists who establish illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank. Many of these activists have also been involved in violence against Palestinians, as well as theft, destruction and arson of Palestinian property.

Few of these crimes are prosecuted, with the High Court of Justice recently acknowledging this reality as well.