Police chief reinstates senior officer under probe for ignoring settler violence

Israel Police chief Danny Levy has decided to allow Cdr. Avishai Muallem, an officer currently under investigation, to return to the force after a six-month suspension.

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.

Though he was reinstated, Muallem did not return to his role in the West Bank on Tuesday morning, but rather to an administrative position in the police’s Logistical Support Division, according to reports.

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

“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,” the far-right leader wrote Monday in a post on X.

Ben Gvir lambasted the Shin Bet, saying it was the agency officials 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 was referring to a phone call leaked by Muallem in which he and a high-ranking official in the Shin Bet’s Jewish Division were heard arguing over how to deal with settler violence, with the latter enjoining him to crack down on nationalist crime.

The ongoing investigation into Muallem’s alleged crimes was announced by the Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) in December.

In a statement to the press at the time, the agency said that Muallem, along with another senior officer from his district, were suspected of having “carried out irregular activities in the framework of their positions… while deviating from the line for dealing with cases of nationalistic crime” with the goal of advancing through the police ranks.

Ben Gvir has repeatedly voiced his displeasure over police action against settlers, and has been accused in the past of using promotions as a carrot-and-stick to influence cops’ decision-making.

Quamar Mishiriq-Assad, a human rights lawyer who represents Palestinian villagers in the South Hebron Hills region of the West Bank who are subjected to settler violence, told The Times of Israel that since Ben Gvir took office, the lack of police enforcement against nationalist violence had reached “crazy heights.”

He said police officers in the district were not willing to perform even the most basic police functions to investigate such incidents.

Investigators and state prosecutors are expected to reach a decision on whether to file charges against Muallem this month, Ynet reported.

Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.