Minister promises to treat organized crime 'like terrorists'
Interior Security Minister Aharonovich says will grant law enforcement authority to use administrative detentions, preventative arrests against mobsters
The assassination attempt targeting a prosecutor and the series of hits in Ashkelon leads police to a change in attitude: In a public event, Interior Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch vowed law enforcement will treat organized crime as "terrorists and terrorist group for all feats and purposes."
He said police will term them as such and will use "all tools, including administrative detentions and preventative arrests." According to him, Israel has not seen the last attempt on prosecutors' and police officers' lives.
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In an event in Ramat Gan, Aharonovitch dubbed the fight against organized crime a "war": "I view the last incident as a terror attack. This is crossing a line. Recently new, very violent criminal groups have sprouted here. We're going to put them all behind bars."
Law enforcement sources explained Aharonovitch's meaning is to use emergency bylines, meant for Palestinian groups which endanger State security, for the fight against crime. The aim is to allow wider authority to law enforcement – police and prosecutors.
Aharonovitch also commented on the issue of migrants and asylum seekers, a day after a preliminary bill has been distributed, which will allow for their detainment for up to a year without trial.
"We've set up a police station with 200 officers in the central bus station area in Tel Aviv. On December 15, when the time set by the High Court expires, some 1,400 infiltrators now in jail will be moved into the open detainment facility.
"This is a complex situation. It's unclear how the facility will be operated."
This is the first time an official admits the State intends to move the yet unreleased migrants into another facility, and also that how that facility will function has yet to be determined.
The preliminary bill, authored by Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar after the High Court struck down the previous amendment, determines that migrants can be jailed for a year, instead of the previous three.
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