The police issued an unprecedented attack today (Thursday) against the former Tel Aviv District Commander, retired Chief of Staff Ami Eshed, who was dismissed by Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
This comes after Eshad, in his remarks at the first liberal congress of the Movement for Quality Government, called Commissioner Danny Levy a "slavish slave" and a "puppet" - and warned that a "police revolution" was taking place in Israel.
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Eshed claimed at the conference that the Commissioner "opened the city gate wide and cleared the way for the minister and his men. No other Commissioner would have given a hand in the process of transferring ownership that is currently befalling the Israel Police. The Minister was not satisfied and the Commissioner worked tirelessly. The Commissioner's silence in the face of everything the Minister is doing to the police does not indicate neutrality or statehood, but rather full partnership.".
The former district commander accused that under Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the police had become weakened and spread out, and even noted that it allowed right-wing activist Mordechai David to operate without interference.
The police responded officially and in a sharp and unusual style: "The Israel Police is run by professional and courageous commanders and police officers, who do sacred work for the citizens of the State of Israel.
""As for Ami Eshad, he ended his role under circumstances that it is best not to elaborate on, including operational malfunctions, which even cost human lives.
""In his words, he chose to discredit 32,000 heroic police officers, who give their lives for the State of Israel and its citizens day and night. Some of them were Eshad's subordinates, and as their former commander, he should be ashamed! The Israel Police is ashamed and disgraced by Eshad's people.".
Eshed resigned from the police in July 2023, after being removed from his position by Minister Ben Gvir. According to Eshed, this was done for political reasons - this was due to the policy he adopted during the protests against the reform of the judicial system.
At the time, he said: "I am paying an unbearable personal price for choosing to prevent a civil war. I was able to meet expectations and use unreasonable force - and fill the Ichilov emergency room at the end of every demonstration.".
