Senior cop accused of papering over settler attacks arrested again for alleged tampering
Avishai Muallem, being probed for sham investigations of Jewish nationalistic crimes to please Ben Gvir, held for attempts to remove materials from police system
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
A senior police officer already under investigation for bribery and other offenses relating to his alleged refusal to investigate Jewish nationalist crimes in the West Bank was arrested again on Thursday on suspicion of obstructing the investigation against him and abusing his authority.
The Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) said Israel Police Commander Avishai Muallem, the head of the Judea and Samaria Police District’s investigations and intelligence department, was arrested because, after he had already been suspended from his position, Muallem requested that his department “remove materials from the police systems and transfer them to him.”
Muallem was arrested by DIPI agents and was slated to appear before the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court later Thursday for a hearing, where the department will request he be released under restrictive conditions.
Muallem was previously arrested over the original allegations in early December and detained for four days, before he was released to house arrest.
The investigation against Muallem revolves around suspicions that his department conducted sham investigations into acts of Jewish nationalistic crimes in the West Bank, merely to give the appearance that probes were being conducted without actually bringing perpetrators to account, in order to please far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Ben Gvir has repeatedly voiced his displeasure over police action against settlers, and has himself been accused of improperly intervening in police activity and investigations.
Another senior police officer from the same district, whose name has not yet been disclosed, was being investigated in parallel, while Israel Prison Service Chief Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi was also a suspect in the affair.
On Tuesday, DIPI said Muallem and the other senior officer from his district were 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 line for dealing with cases of nationalistic crime.”
Yaakobi has been suspected of informing Muallem that he was the subject of an undercover investigation before it was made public.
According to a report in the Haaretz newspaper last month, suspicions have also been raised that Muallem repeatedly and deliberately ignored information passed to him and his unit by the Shin Bet’s nationalistic crimes department about the involvement of far-right extremists in attacks on Palestinians.
Muallem’s alleged refusal to tackle Jewish extremism stemmed from a desire to curry favor with Ben Gvir and obtain promotion within the police. Ben Gvir is an ultranationalist with a history of criminal convictions before he entered politics.
The scandal erupted last month when DIPI officers raided Muallem’s home on December 2 and arrested him, and detained Yaakobi for questioning.
Muallem’s lawyer Ephraim Dimri has claimed that the investigation was “political” and said Muallem was implementing orders passed down to him by senior officials, as well as the policies of the minister responsible for him.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
