Cmdr. Avishay Mualem, head of the Israel Police’s Judea and Samaria District, is reportedly being investigated on suspicion of refusing to carry out arrest warrants against alleged Jewish extremists in an effort to get promoted by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The Justice Ministry’s Police Investigations Department is also said to suspect Mualem of leaking classified intelligence files to Ben-Gvir, who oversees the police. Most of the details of the case are under a gag order.
Mualem was arrested on Monday alongside Israel Prison Service Chief Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi and a second police officer with the rank of superintendent whose name remains barred from publication.
The IPS chief is reportedly being investigated for tipping off Mualem that an undercover probe was opened against him, in addition to allegedly interfering in a round of professional appointments of the Israel Police.
Yaakobi and the police superintendent were released on Monday under restrictive conditions and to house arrest, respectively, following hours of questioning, while Mualem’s remand was extended for four days.
According to Channel 12, Mualem admitted during questioning that he refused to cooperate with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) when it sought to arrest some Jewish extremists, claiming the agency wanted to turn him into a “rubber stamp” for its policies.
The top cop said there was a lack of incriminating evidence in all the cases in which he decided not to act on requests from the Shin Bet.
“It doesn’t make sense that they would constantly ask me to arrest only Jews,” Mualem was cited as saying. He told investigators that he only met Ben-Gvir in professional settings and that the minister never promised him a promotion in exchange for leaking confidential files.
Ben-Gvir, in a statement on Thursday morning, again reiterated his support for the suspects. “I say again with great pride that those who uphold my policies—governance, sovereignty, determination and professionalism—advance in the police force. That’s how it is in a democracy, not a banana republic,” the minister said in a video.
Following Monday’s arrests, Ben-Gvir denounced what he described as a “political decision” by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
“This is a coup d’etat,” the Otzma Yehudit Party leader said at a press conference, slamming the arrests as “an attempt to bring me down, me, the government and the prime minister.”
Ben-Gvir again called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Yariv Levin to convene an investigative panel to advance the dismissal of Baharav-Miara, who has repeatedly clashed with the government.
Netanyahu tasked Levin in November with finding a solution to what he said was the incessant opposition of Baharav-Miara to his government.
Last month, four Israel Defense Forces servicemembers and a former military spokesman for Netanyahu were detained as part of a separate police investigation into the alleged leaking by the Prime Minister’s Office of files concerning the 100 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
Eli Feldstein, a former spokesman for military affairs in the PMO, is suspected of leaking documents obtained by the IDF that indicate the terrorist organization is not interested in a ceasefire deal and is only using truce talks to increase domestic pressure on the government to make concessions.
Netanyahu in a statement on Nov. 12 accused Israeli law enforcement of detaining employees of his office “in basements” without access to lawyers, in an effort to extract false statements against him.