Ben Gvir's new spin doesn't square with the calendar
An opinion piece claims that Ben Gvir has turned the authority to sign off on appointments at the rank of commander into a tool for controlling the police, and that he blocked the promotion of female officers including Commander Rinat Saban and Commander Reut Rosenberg. In his response to the court regarding Commander Itzik Alfasi's petition, the minister attributed the cancellation of the appointment to remarks by Boaz Balt, but he himself approved the appointment in summer 2025.
The article argues that National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has turned the authority to sign off on appointments at the rank of commander into a tool for total control over the police, and that officers fear investigating the minister's associates. According to the claims, Ben Gvir blocked the promotion of Commander Rinat Saban, Deputy Commander Ruthie Hauslich, and Commander Reut Rosenberg, and in all three cases findings were presented to the court showing that the considerations were not substantive, forcing the minister to back down. It is further claimed that the confrontation with the head of the Investigations and Intelligence Division, Boaz Balt, has intensified, and that under Balt the most sensitive investigations were conducted, including Catargate, Bild, the investigation of the Military Advocate General, and the investigation of Minister May Golan. Yesterday, in the fourth petition against him, filed by Commander Itzik Alfasi, the minister argued in his response to the court that the reason for canceling Alfasi's appointment as division spokesman was remarks Balt made to him two years ago. The author points out a contradiction: Ben Gvir himself approved the appointment in summer 2025, more than a year after those remarks. The article adds that the position of the Investigations Division regarding the investigation into foreign interference in the elections, which was reinforced by an official letter from Solberg yesterday, is that there is no evidence for the claims of the Shin Bet chief.