Who Will Guard the Police Officers? | Moshe Cohen-Eliya
Prof. Moshe Cohen-Eliya's opinion piece analyzes the struggle for control over the Police Internal Investigations Department (PIID) in light of the High Court of Justice's interim order. The author argues that the prosecution is not a neutral party but a player in a power struggle, and that the new law seeks to introduce a dimension of democratic accountability. He points to a pattern of systemic resistance to any change in the centers of legal power.
Prof. Moshe Cohen-Eliya, an expert in constitutional law, addresses the struggle for control over the Police Internal Investigations Department (PIID). The author begins with the High Court of Justice's interim order preventing the Minister of Justice from advancing the mechanisms for selecting the head of PIID under the new law. He argues that this is a recurring pattern: whenever the elected echelon tries to change the power centers of the 'old hegemony,' the legal system resists. Cohen-Eliya defines PIID as a 'legal militia' with investigative and arrest powers, and argues that the real question is not PIID's independence but independence from whom. He criticizes what he calls a 'conceptual ruse' in which power held by legal professionals is defined as 'professional' while power leaving their hands is defined as 'political.' The author points to the case of attorney Ro'i Kahlon, a candidate for the head of PIID, whose disciplinary investigation was revived precisely after his candidacy was announced, following months of stagnation. He compares this to previous claims about the use of open cases as a tool of political pressure. The article concludes with a call for the upcoming elections to focus on the question of control over state institutions and the public's ability to restore its sovereignty.