Police, politicians enraged at 'mafia' call to police chief
Police officers jump to Roni Alsheikh’s side following allegations of threatening phone call made by PM associate warning him he is considered a traitor; PM's tactics 'resemble Italian mafia,' says MK Eitan Cabel.
After news broke out Wednesday of the disturbing call Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh received from a source close to the Prime Minister's Office, cautioning him he was earning a reputation for being an "ungrateful traitor", both senior police officials and politicians railed against the incident.
A few weeks ago, Alsheikh received a phone call from an associate, who also has ties to the prime minister's closest associates, warning him he was in the Prime Minister Office's "crosshairs."
The associate allegedly also told the police chief that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's entourage view him as a "traitor" and "ungrateful."
The police chief's associate warned him he would soon face an attack targeting him personally, following Prime Minister Netanyahu's stinging condemnation of a "tsunami of leaks" coming from the police relating to the various investigations into the prime minister's affairs.
Alsheikh categorically denied the charges leveled against the police, while not sharing the contents of the warning phone conversation until just recently confiding with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.
On Wednesday the call became talk of the day at the Israel Police. Some said the commissioner should have disclosed the threats immediately after receiving them. "Those who threatened him should be put in their place. It's frightening to imagine this is how things are behind the scenes," said one senior officer.
Sources closer to Alsheikh also commented on the call, comparing it to the underworld. "This is conduct more in line with the underworld and mafia. These threats are a danger to Israel's democracy more than a personal injury against the commissioner himself."
Politicians were quick to respond to the controversy as well.
"The conduct towards the commissioner resembles Cosa Nostra tactics," said MK Eitan Cabel (Zionist Union). His fellow party member MK Yoel Hasson also weighed in, saying, "Every Israeli has to understand political persecution against the police commissioner will end up being used on every citizen who objects to Netanyahu's rule."
MK Ksenia Svetlova, also from the Zionist Union, said that while Netanyahu complained of a "witch-hunt" waged against him, he is the one trying to "hunt down the rule of law and the media."
MK Michal Rozin (Meretz), said, "This is a famous Netanyahu tactic, meant to draw attention away from the investigations conducted against him. He and his associates attack the High Court and every other Israeli institution."
