Senior Police Officer Considers Petition Over Blocked Promotion, Citing Improper Motives

Senior police officer Superintendent Commander Itzik Alפסי is considering petitioning the court after National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir canceled his promotion, according to a report first aired Tuesday on Kan News. In a pre-petition letter sent through attorney Amir Bartal, Alפסי suggested the appointment was blocked for improper reasons, linked to professional remarks he made during a command course that were allegedly relayed to the minister.

Alפסי had been approved in August, in a regular process, by Police Commissioner Danny Levy for the post of spokesperson for the Investigations and Intelligence Division, and then went on the police command course, known as PoM. During one class, officers discussed a letter published by the head of the Investigations and Intelligence Division, Commander Boaz Blet. Alפסי, as a trainee familiar with the division's work, was asked to respond in a professional discussion. His lawyers wrote that he did not express political views, did not exceed his role, and only took part like the other course participants.

The letter says that in December, two weeks before the end of the course, Ben Gvir summoned the police spokespeople at the college and told them they were forbidden to express political opinions and that he heard everything said in PoM. On the morning of the graduation ceremony, Alפסi's commander, Deputy Commander Lior Abudraham, told him the minister did not want to sign the appointment, though he would still receive the rank. A few days after the course ended, Abudraham told him again that the minister refused to approve the posting.

Alפסי says he still has not been told why the minister declined to sign off on his appointment or why he was not assigned to the role. The letter argues the matter is especially serious because the spokesperson for the Investigations and Intelligence Division represents the police's professional and state-based position before the public, including in matters of suspected government corruption, and that tying the appointment to the minister's approval or satisfaction with closed-door comments harms police independence, its official character, and public trust.