Who will be Israel's next police chief?
Photo: Dudu Azoulay
Minister Aharonovitch
Photo: Yair Sagi
Minister's associates: New police chief a surprise
Identity of Israel's next police commissioner to 'surprise everyone,' say close associates of internal security minister; remarks made amid sex scandal that prompted investigation against senior police officer on sexual assault charges
The identity of Israel's next police commissioner, expected to be announced in the near future, will be a big surprise, close associates of Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch told Ynet Friday.
A close associate of the minister said that "it will be a big surprise for everyone when he announces his candidate." Sources close to Aharonovitch said he already spoke with some of the figures he views as potential candidates for the police commissioner post. However, the minister's announcement is expected to only be made following the conclusion of the Bar-Lev affair probe.
The process of naming a new police chief was suspended about two weeks ago, following the launch of an investigation against one of the top candidates for the job. In recent weeks, two women have stepped forward to charge police Major-General Uri Bar-Lev has sexually assaulted them, prompting the probe.
Police Scandal
Yael Branovsky
Dr. Orly Innes, who says police Major-General Uri Bar-Lev sexually assaulted her, ends publication ban on her own by delivering speech at Tel Aviv rally
Candidate not a police official?
Officials at the Internal Security Ministry believe that Aharonovitch's candidate will come from outside the police ranks, in order to extract the Israel Police from the tough situation it faces in the wake of the Bar-Lev affair.
On Thursday, the first complainant against Major-General Bar-Lev, Dr. Orly Innes, revealed her identity – which had been previously under a gag order – by delivering a speech in a Tel Aviv rally to protest violence against women.
Innes, a senior consultant for the Internal Security Ministry, claims that Bar-Lev engaged in blatant sexual innuendo, pushed her to the ground, and attempted to embrace her in the southern town of Eilat more than two years ago. Later, a second complainant whose identity had not been revealed stepped forward to charge that Bar-Lev raped her in hotel room some five years ago, while she was drugged.
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