Senior cops, Ben Gvir aide questioned in alleged mishandling of Jewish W. Bank attacks
Officials suspect Commander Avishai Muallem avoided investigating violence to curry favor with far-right former national security minister

Two senior policemen and an aide to former national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir were questioned by police Tuesday in a case surrounding allegations that one of the police officers deliberately avoided investigating suspected Jewish nationalist attacks in the West Bank, ostensibly in order to further his career in the force.
Commander Avishai Muallem, head of the Judea and Samaria Police District’s investigations and intelligence department, is the central suspect in the case. The Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) also suspects that Muallem faked and then closed investigations into settler attacks to please Ben Gvir and earn a promotion.
DIPI on Tuesday questioned Muallem, who is currently suspended; West Bank District Commander Moshe Pinchi, who was Ben Gvir’s former security affairs secretary; and Ben Gvir’s close aide and ex-chief of staff Chanamel Dorfman.
Dorfman continues to serve as chief of staff to Ben Gvir’s successor in the national security ministry, Haim Katz.
Dorfman’s attorney Ariel Atari said he “was told he is suspected of taking steps to influence investigations [in the West Bank police district] in cases of nationalistic crime… This is an utterly baseless claim.”
DIPI has also summoned former Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot to answer questions related to the case on Wednesday.

The agency has in the past weighed investigating Dorfman for his potential role as a go-between for Ben Gvir and police officers seeking to curry the far-right politician’s favor.
Many in Ben Gvir’s circle are under scrutiny from the Justice Ministry as part of the probe against Muallem.
DIPI also suspects Israel Prisons Chief Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi of informing Muallem that he was the central suspect in an investigation, which would constitute obstruction and breach of trust.
Ben Gvir decried the DIPI’s summons Monday in a statement accusing Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara of continuing “to harass and intimidate people close to me, as well as distinguished police officers, as part of her persecution campaign of politicized investigations — again through the means of her private police, or under the formal title ‘DIPI.’”
Charlie Summers contributed to this report.