“time” police reporter Josh Breiner reports in the newspaper this morning (Sunday) that the tensions between the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gabir and Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai are increasing, and according to a number of sources in the law enforcement system, the relationship between the two is close to an explosion.
While the minister repeatedly claims that the police will continue to demolish houses in East Jerusalem, expand their activities in the area and impose a heavy hand on the Arab residents – Shabtai stands in front of him and warns of the unrest in the area.
According to Breiner’s report, Shabtai was involved in curbing some of the minister’s initiatives, including imposing closures on Palestinian neighborhoods.
Against the backdrop of the Ramadan fast that will begin next month, the security establishment believes that the “concentration of effort” operation, which Ben Gabir announced following the stampede attack in Neve Ya’akov, in which three Israelis were murdered, only heated up the area and increased the chances of a violent outbreak.
Breiner describes that “Commissioner Shabtai felt that Ben Gvir wanted to humiliate him personally.” Thus, upon arriving at the scene of the attack in Neve Ya’akov, the Minister loudly scolded the commissioner, in front of those present and the cameras, accusing him of a lack of deterrence and demanding to know why the police did not act more quickly.
“Shabtai was heard asking Ben Gvir to ‘calm down, don’t shout,’ and asked to speak with him privately, but to no avail. ‘He is trampling on me,’ said the commissioner in closed conversations. Another expression of the minister’s disdain for Shabtai is his tendency to call him by his first name in the presence of his subordinates,” says Breiner.
Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai said last night in an interview with News 12 that he has no intention of resigning. “No one can replace the commissioner or the district commander at will,” said Shabtai.
“I say this in the clearest way,” emphasized Shabtai, “we work according to the law. The law, there are things it grants, powers to the commanders of the Israel Police, to the Commissioner and to the district commanders. No one can replace, neither the commissioner nor the district commander in judgment, in one matter or another, not in investigations.”
Member of Knesset from the Otzma Yehudit party Zvika Vogel told Network B here that there is a possibility that Ben Gvir will dismiss the Commissioner. “If he is not ready to get used to the new style, then there is no choice.” Vogel added that “the Commissioner should act precisely according to the policy he defines He was elected by the public.” According to him, the Ministry of National Security does not aim to reach a situation where Shabtai will be fired, however, Fogel said: “If we need to straighten the line a little from time to time, then we will straighten the line for him. It seems to me to be perfectly fine.”