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A government selection committee on Friday morning canceled the appointment of Major-General Moshe "Chico" Edri as Israeli police chief, throwing the candidacy of the government-backed candidate into serious doubt about his past conduct.
The Advisory Committee of Senior Officials, better known as the Goldberg Commission, announced that it could not recommend Edri to the position of police commissioner after midnight Friday, claiming that it "would undermine the public confidence in the police ".
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, who had nominated Edri, said he would continue his appointment regardless of the commission's recommendations, although he was not sure Edri would get the job done. government approval without the presence of the committee.
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Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked also said the government could vote in favor of Edri's approval, stating that the panel did not have the right to decide who would become chief of police. "Nobody is perfect, but the government has to nominate the best candidate," she said.
The current police chief, Roni Alsheich, due to retire on Monday, it is likely that the police will be forced to promote an acting leader until a permanent commissioner can be found.
Jerusalem District Police Commander Moshe Edri at the scene of a knife attack near the Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem on October 10, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)
Edri, the current director general of the Ministry of Public Security and former police commander of the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv districts, was widely supported by the government, beating Jerusalem police chief Yoram Halevi. , considered the party's favorite. David Bitan, current chief of police of Tel Aviv.
But questions were raised about his behavior and his past as a top policeman in Jerusalem.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, on the right, and Israeli Police Chief Roni Alsheich at the Police Headquarters in Jerusalem on April 26, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)
Last week, Edri took a lie detector test that the Appointment Committee had ordered him to take as part of his audit process, due to the sensitive nature of the Commissioner's position, as he had received unspecified inappropriate behavior complaints and that other candidates for the position had already been tested.
According to the Goldberg Commission announcement, the decision to badociate the candidacy with the kibosh stems from a meeting between Edri and a plaintiff's lawyer, the whistleblower of the 39, tax authority, Rafi Rotem, who accused the police of having harbaded him.
Although Edri claimed that the meeting was not about Rotem, the commission wrote that the very fact that they met at such a sensitive time was "a lack of behavior and discretion leading to a inappropriate behavior ".
"Public confidence in the police comes largely from who the commissioner is," the commission wrote. "The cloud hanging over the meeting would follow the candidate all his years at work, if he was chosen, and would thereby undermine public trust in the police."
The four-member panel voted 2 to 2 against Edri, but retired judge Eliezer Goldberg exercised his powers as head of the commission to break the equality and torpedo the candidacy.
The committee had several discussions about Edri's appointment and interviewed Erdan, Alsheich and Edri himself.
Various reports claimed that Alsheich had been trying to thwart Edri's candidacy in recent months.
Addressing reporters on Thursday night, he denied playing a role in the delay taken by the panel in the appointment's decision.
Farewell Ceremony of outgoing Chief of Police Roni Alsheich, center, at the Beit Shemesh National Police Academy, November 29, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel / FLASH90)
After inviting the public to submit information that could help validate Edri's candidacy, the committee said that it had received many, mostly favorable, responses. However, some members of the public complained of "inappropriate behavior", he said, without giving further details.
A report published last week by Kan's public broadcaster revealed that one of the complaints related to alleged behavior that resulted in the dismissal of other police officers. According to other complaints, Edri was in a conflict of interest because of links with businessmen he had not reported.
LGBT rights groups have criticized Edri's candidacy following a deadly badault during the pride parade in Jerusalem that was held while the candidate was the city's top officer.
Edri was reprimanded as a result of the 2015 attack, in which ultra-orthodox extremist Yishai Schlissel stabbed Shira Banki, 16, to death and wounded five others.
Yishai Schlissel on the photo while he walks in a Gay Pride parade and that he is about to pull out a knife from his coat and stab people in Jerusalem on Thursday, July 30, 2015 (AP Photo / Sebastian Scheiner)
Despite warnings by intelligence services, Schlissel and others planned acts of violence against the protesters, but the Jerusalem police under Edri's command took no action to monitor the dagger, which had already been jailed for the same bombing at the 2005 Gay Pride Parade.
Edri's appointment had received much praise among Israeli politicians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that it was "an appropriate appointment" and qualified the candidate as "competent and experienced officer".
Alsheich must complete his term after four years in office. Erdan, who ran into the outgoing commissioner, refused to extend his term for another year.
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