Ben-Gvir exerts power as police minister before taking up the post

Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the Otzma Yehudit Party and right-wing member of Knesset (Israel’s Parliament), visits the Mahane Yehuda Market as part of the election campaign before the elections to be held on the 1st of November in Jerusalem on October 28, 2022. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]

Leader of Israel’s far-right Otzma Yehudit Party, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has asked Israel Police Chief, Kobi Shabtai, to delay appointing officers to senior positions until he takes up his post, Arab48 reported yesterday.

Ben-Gvir, who is slated to become responsible for the police in Israel’s incoming coalition government, is expected to take up the newly titled National Security Ministry.

Israel’s Channel 12 has reported that the relationship between Ben-Gvir and Shabtai has been tense since the police chief accused the hardline minister of being the reason for the eruption of deadly riots in mixed Arab-Jewish cities in Israel during Israel’s offensive on Gaza in May 2021.

Ben-Gvir has said “it will be hard” for him to work with such a police chief when he takes up office.

Channel 12 said that the police appointments were routine and it was unprecedented for a minister to intervene on such a level, particularly one who has not yet come into office.

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