Public Security Minister Amir Ohana on Tuesday nominated Border Police commander Kobi Shabtai to succeed Moti Cohen as the chief of police.
Cohen has served as acting chief since December 2018 because appointments to senior positions were held up by the electoral paralysis and the coronavirus crisis.
Ohana will also nominate Katy Perry to head the Israel Prisons Service. Perry had served in the IPS since 1990 in a variety of positions, including commanding prisons and as the head of the southern district and multiple intelligence division roles.
The main question that follows is whether the Blue and White party will accept Shabtai’s appointment as part of a deal as the Likud approves Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn’s nomination of Amit Aisman to be the next State Attorney, or whether Benny Gantz’s party will block the appointment.
Blue and White declined to tell The Jerusalem Post how they would react.
Already in July, Ohana had reportedly cut down his list of candidates to four, but he was stuck due to the political deadlock on appointments between Likud and Blue and White.
Shabtai surprisingly beat former Jerusalem District commander Yoram Halevi and his successor, Doron Yadid.
Shabtai joined the Border Police in 1991, including in an undercover unit in Gaza. He was enlisted into the paratroop brigade in 1982 and served in several command roles.
Shabtai was wounded three times in altercations with Palestinians or from their explosives and has been awarded citations for continuing to fight after being wounded. Since 1995 he has fulfilled many police roles in the West Bank, including as Border Police chief since 2016, part of which has included combating the spike in terror attacks during the 2015-2016 Knife Intifada.
But he has much less experience in police operations within the Green Line.
A statement from the police spokesperson’s office which supported both the idea of finally selecting a permanent police chief and of Shabtai in particular but Cohen voiced heated criticism of Ohana and the political echelon for holding the post hostage for two years.
He characterized the delay as being due to political considerations and attempts to improperly influence police actions.
During protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ohana was heard in recordings as trying to pressure the police into cracking down on demonstrators in a way that public security ministers usually do not intervene.
Ohana said he had picked Shabtai because he was a top commander and was widely accepted in police circles and because of his readiness to reform parts of the police and take the organization in new directions.
Last week, Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit wrote to Ohana and directed him to appoint a permanent police chief by the end of December.
Mandelblit’s letter came days after the High Court of Justice ordered the government to act promptly to fill the top law enforcement job, although the court did not set a deadline.
The court spoke after hearing several petitions that sought to get the government to move on stalled appointments stemming from the political deadlock between the Likud and Blue and White.
Moti Cohen replaced Roni Alsheich in December 2018, but was never elevated to permanent status and Ohana made clear that he would not grant Cohen permanent status and wanted to replace him but Cohen could not be replaced because for the 18 months during the three rounds of elections took place, there were only caretaker governments and they were not authorized to make permanent appointments.
But since the current government was established in May, the delay has come from Netanyahu’s desire to influence the appointment of the next state attorney.
Since Blue and White does not want Likud to veto its pick for that post, the Likud froze almost all major appointments, including for the chief of police.
Technically, Netanyahu has agreed not to get personally involved in the appointment of the police chief and the state attorney.
However, his Likud lieutenants can still keep the positions frozen, based on the coalition agreement that requires consensus between Likud and Blue and White.