New Law Removing Police Investigations Unit From State Prosecutor Sparks Uproar

After the passage of the Police Internal Investigations Department law overnight, which will remove the Department for Investigation of Police Officers from the State Attorney's Office and reestablish it as an independent body, the law's sponsor, MK Moshe Saada, a former deputy head of the department, responded to the uproar it caused. Saada wrote: "Good morning to the citizens of Israel. I promised and I delivered. The law will remove the Department for Investigation of Police Officers from the State Attorney's Office, and it will be reestablished as an independent body that will do justice and not persecute people."

He also wrote: "A correction to the system that went off track because of the desire to intercept Prime Minister Netanyahu. There are no more criminals in the service of the law, there are no people above the law, and everyone is equal before the law." The new law, which strips the Department for Investigation of Police Officers from the State Attorney's Office and turns it into an independent body, is drawing fierce opposition from opposition figures and former senior legal officials.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said: "The Police Internal Investigations Department law is an important law that strengthens the values of the State of Israel as a democratic state, and I congratulate MK Moshe Saada on its passage. In the past three years, the dismissed attorney general turned the department into a private police force intended to terrify police officers and fighters. It is very good that the department will no longer be under the control of a woman with no restraint, who spares no means to achieve her goals, deterring our police officers and fighters."

Saada issued a joint statement with Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Constitution Committee Chairman Simcha Rothman, who advanced the proposal, saying that "the Knesset plenum approved the law overnight in its final reading, a central part of the judicial overhaul, to remove the Department for Investigation of Police Officers, the Police Internal Investigations Department, from the State Attorney's Office and establish it as a separate unit. The law puts an end to years of inherent conflicts of interest."

This morning, the Movement for Quality Government filed a petition with the High Court of Justice נגד the law. In the petition, the movement asks the court to issue an order nisi to cancel the amendment, or alternatively an order nisi against the provisions regulating the politicization of the appointment procedures for the head of the Police Internal Investigations Department and the coordinator for police-investigation matters, as well as to hold an urgent hearing on the petition in view of the legislative timetable.

Attorney Stav Levna Laveh, head of the legal division at the Movement for Quality Government, said: "The need to improve the Police Internal Investigations Department is essential, but its independence is not a problem that needs to be solved, it is a value that must be protected. Instead of strengthening the department, the amendment exposes it to political influence and gives the justice minister unprecedented influence over the person who is supposed to oversee law enforcement. A body that investigates police officers must be independent of the political level. This is a basic condition for the rule of law and equality before the law."

MK Gilad Kariv responded: "The Knesset has finally approved the law subordinating the Department for Investigation of Police Officers to politicians. This is one of the corrupt and dangerous laws of the regime coup. The law will not help any citizen harmed by police violence or abuse of police powers. Police violence is the last thing that interests this aggressive and violent coalition. The sole purpose of the law is to deter police officers from investigating corrupt politicians without fear and from investigating criminals who maintain close ties with politicians, as we see in the circle around Minister Ben Gvir and in the expanding circles of the Likud Party. In every coalition negotiation, the Democrats will demand the repeal of this dangerous law. We will carry out a real reform in the Police Internal Investigations Department, one that will help citizens and not corrupt politicians and their criminal friends."