Top West Bank cop said to have ignored intel on settler attacks to please Ben Gvir
Court refuses to extend remand of Avishai Mualem, releases him to house arrest; far-right national security minister says ‘proud’ of promoting officers who carry out his policies
A senior officer in the Israel Police’s West Bank division who was arrested earlier this week is suspected of turning a blind eye to information about extremist settler violence against West Bank Palestinians in order to win promotion from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Hebrew media reported Thursday.
The Department of Internal Police Investigations, which is under the Justice Ministry and is handling the case, asked to extend Cdr. Avishai Mualem’s remand by five days. However, Jerusalem District Court released Mualem to house arrest on Thursday evening.
According to an unsourced Haaretz report, the Shin Bet security service passed on intelligence information regarding alleged Jewish terrorism to a unit under Mualem but he refrained from taking action and told investigators he felt there was not enough evidence to make arrests. The suspicion is, the report said, that Mualem was seeking a promotion from Ben Gvir, whose ministry oversees the Israel Police.
The police’s West Bank division has reportedly been the subject of frustration for the Shin Bet security service in recent months, due to its alleged general unprofessional behavior, and in particular, the conduct of the department tasked with dealing with Jewish terrorism.
Mualem was detained and questioned by the DIPI on Monday along with Israel Prison Service Chief Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi and another as-yet-unnamed officer. According to Hebrew media reporters, Yaakobi, who has since been released to house arrest, is suspected of having alerted Mulaem to the fact that he was under investigation. It was previously reported that Mualem was suspected of passing classified information to Ben Gvir.
Ben Gvir has claimed that the arrest of the officers is part of a political move against himself by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, part of her push to have him dismissed for repeatedly intervening in operational police matters and allegedly politicizing promotions.
While many of the details in the case remain under a gag order, it is said to be linked to illicit efforts by the officers to benefit the far-right minister.
The Haaretz report said that on a number of occasions, the Shin Bet unit dealing with Jewish terrorism passed on information to the West Bank unit under Mualem’s command about extremist settlers’ involvement in violence against Palestinians, including alleged acts of terrorism. One incident involved violence against an Israeli citizen, the report said.
Investigators suspect that Mualem ignored the information in order to be promoted by Ben Gvir to assistant commissioner.
During questioning, Mualem said that in each of the alleged cases he did not instruct that arrests be made because he felt there was not enough incriminating evidence against the suspects.
Haaretz cited several unnamed sources familiar with the developments as saying that, at the moment, Ben Gvir is not likely to be questioned in the case, despite the suspicion that information was passed to him.
Sources close to Mualem told Haaretz that he “implements Ben Gvir’s policies” and that in each of the cases, there was a clear documented reason as to why the officer acted the way he did.
Ben Gvir posted a video to social media platform X on Thursday declaring his pride in how he manages promotions in his ministry, which is also responsible for the Israel Prison Service.
בעבר אנשים התקדמו במשרד הזה לפי פרוטקציות ולפי קומבינות. אני אומר שוב ובגאווה גדולה – מי שמקיים את המדיניות שלי, משילות, ריבונות, נחישות, מקצוענות. הוא מתקדם במשטרה, ככה זה בדמוקרטיה ולא ברפובליקת בננות. pic.twitter.com/0Q8njdg1VN
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) December 5, 2024
The minister asserted that in the past, people under the ministry were promoted based on nepotism and shady deals.
“I say once again, and with great pride, those who carry out my policies on governance, sovereignty, determination, and professionalism,” he said. “That is someone who advances in the police, that is how it is in a democracy, and not banana republics.”
Mualem’s brother Sharon Eliyah told the Kan public broadcaster that his sibling was being held under a “political arrest.”
“We won’t take this quietly, we will make sure that the truth comes out and bring to trial those who made it happen.”
On Tuesday afternoon, after Mualem’s name was cleared for publication, Ben Gvir jumped to the senior officer’s defense, writing in a post on X that “he put the security of the settlers in Judea and Samaria as a top priority, and focused on the fight against Arab terrorism instead of chasing and harassing boys with markers” — a reference to alleged graffiti and vandalism of Palestinian property by Israeli settlers.
According to the Haaretz daily, Shin Bet officials have raised serious complaints in recent months about Mualem’s approach to the role, saying he had not devoted any attention to acting against nationalistic crimes.
The paper cited sources within the defense community describing the officer as mainly concerned with doing Ben Gvir’s bidding.
Since the October 7, 2023, massacre, settler violence has risen sharply in the West Bank with frequent acts of violence against Palestinians. There have been several killings and widespread incidents of arson and vandalism.
