The Commissioner of Police, R.N.C Jacob Shabtai, expressed concerns about the establishment of the National Guard in a letter he sent to Minister Itamar Ben Gabir on Sunday. He warned that this move may severely damage the internal security systems in the country and hinder the police’s ability to carry out their duties. The police paid tribute to Laban Gabir for establishing the National Guard, and Ben Gvir agreed to postpone the legislation in exchange for its establishment.
Shabtai stressed that creating an additional security body in Israel, especially one whose responsibility and activity areas overlap with those of the police, would be a decision with serious consequences for the country’s internal security. He suggested that regular discussions should be held, and all relevant parties should be heard on this matter, particularly the police. He claimed that such a decision significantly impacts other security bodies and their operational capabilities.
Shabtai believed that the reason for establishing another security body in Israel is unclear, and the proposal’s explanatory notes did not provide any rationale for this unnecessary move. He emphasized that separating the proposed system from the police would lead to heavy cost on the other hand and has no advantages. Moreover, he argued that establishing a new security body would be a waste of resources, a duplication of staff, and a ‘bet’ on an unproven model without benefits.
The commissioner concluded that establishing the guard as an independent and separate body from the police could cause significant damage to the operational capabilities of the BTP formations in the country. He demanded that his position be presented at the cabinet meeting and that a discussion in a national forum within the cabinet be held before deciding on the matter.
Finally, the government is expected to approve a horizontal cut in the budgets of all government ministries and allocate funds to the Ministry of National Security to establish the National Guard. However, Minister Ben Gabir denied any allegation about budget cuts, saying that there is money for the guard, and one billion four hundred million shekels and 1,800 standards were allocated to the National Guard.
Commissioner of Police, R.N.C Jacob Shabtaiwarned today (Sunday) in a letter he sent to the minister Itamar Ben Gabir that the establishment of the National Guard may have consequences “to the point of severely damaging the functioning of the internal security systems in the country and the ability of the police to exercise the responsibility assigned to it”.
The police give a tribute to Laban Gabir for the establishment of the National Guard
Ben Gvir: “I agreed with Netanyahu to postpone the legislation in exchange for establishing a National Guard”
“Establishing an additional security body in the State of Israel, especially one whose areas of responsibility and activity overlap with those of the Israel Police, is a decision that has dramatic consequences for the internal security of the State of Israel. I believe that before making a principled decision on this matter, regular discussions should be held and all the relevant parties should be heard in the matter and who are dealing with it today, in particular the police. Such a decision has dramatic consequences for other security bodies as well and in my understanding, there is room to accept their orderly position on this matter before making the decision, which will have consequences both for the building of the force and for the exercise of the force of all the bodies.” claimed at the beginning of his words.
According to him, “It is not at all clear what the reason is for the establishment of another security body in the State of Israel, whose areas of responsibility and authority overlap with those of the police, and even the explanatory notes to the proposal do not include any real reasoning for this unnecessary move. As will be detailed below, the separation of the proposed system from the police will have heavy costs on the other hand – this move has not been presented with any advantages. A decision to establish a new security body is nothing more than a waste of resources, a doubling of staffs, and a ‘bet’ on a model that has not been proven and has no advantages. I will refer to the many and difficult shortcomings in the proposed model”.
In closing, the commissioner said that the establishment of the guard as an independent and separate body from the police, directly subordinated to the Ministry of National Security, could “cause heavy damage to the operational capabilities of the BTP formations in the country due to damage to the unity of command, duplication of efforts and headquarters, fear of the police, power struggles between organizational and compartmentalization and above all – lack of clarity regarding the controlling party, the bearer of overall responsibility in a territorial area. Any of the factors that will be determined as a responsible commanding factor will have a very difficult time exercising his responsibility since some of the central forces in the activity will not be subordinate to him.”
He also demanded to come to the cabinet meeting and present his position and that the decision on the issue would not be made without holding a discussion in a national forum within the cabinet where the police’s position would be heard.
The government The government is expected to approve at its weekly meeting a horizontal cut in the budgets of all government ministries, in order to finance an addition to the Ministry of National Security in order to establish the “National Guard”. As part of the understanding between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gabir, Netanyahu pledged to immediately advance the establishment of the “National Guard”.
In response to the allegation about the budget cut, Minister Ben Gabir said: “This is a spin by Treasury officials who are probably trying to justify cuts in the budget. There is money for the guard and it goes into the budget. According to the budget, one billion four hundred million shekels and 1,800 standards were allocated to the National Guard (part of the addition of nine billion that was agreed on the night of the budget). I hope that in other matters the Treasury officials do not behave with the same carelessness as they behave here, because it is difficult to understand how things were agreed upon with their knowledge and in their opinion and suddenly they remember to claim that there is no money and there is an attempt to make further cuts.”