The state comptroller's findings about corrupt business ties between a failed startup company once headed by Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz and the Israel Police, in which the police purchased nearly NIS 50 million ($14 million) in technology from the company in 2016, expose an autonomous police entity with a vast budget provided by the taxpayer and no oversight into the actions of the public security minister and his office.
To understand the severity of the phenomenon, we must first look at another ministry, with an even larger budget and greater responsibility. That is to say, the Defense Ministry, which is in charge of the IDF.
It would be utterly unacceptable for funds to pass from the Finance Ministry straight to the IDF. They first go through the Defense Ministry; the minister and his staff oversee the budgets and how they are used, with a joint financial consultant.
This is how a proper ministry functions, so the taxpayer knows his money is being managed appropriately. But when Gilad Erdan entered the Public Security Ministry, he discovered an anomaly: Funds were funneled straight from the Finance Ministry to Police National Headquarters and not to the ministry charged with overseeing the police.
When Erdan tried establishing a mechanism to transfer budgetary oversight to himself, then-Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh arranged an "officers' mutiny." Together with his exorbitantly paid media advisers (which was also noted by the state comptroller), Alsheikh enlisted former police chiefs to support him against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They came out against Erdan's plans, arguing that the public security minister is a political figurehead. In their view, because the police force is tasked with conducting investigations, it stands to reason that a political figure should not control the budget. Alsheikh and his cohort were thus able to keep their piece of the budgetary pie and divide it as they deemed fit – but now the Gantz scandal has come to light.
Now the media chorus is asking: Where was Erdan this whole time? If he had been responsible for the budget, these questions would be justified. But the criticism should be aimed at the Israel Police, whose management conduct is substandard. In essence, what we have is a police state within the state; a phenomenon that runs counter to the principle of a proper chain of command and appropriate management protocols, with an established responsibility and oversight hierarchy.
This is an absurd situation: The person at the top of the pyramid can't determine or oversee his ministry's budget. When Erdan secured additional budgetary funds to improve policing the Arab sector and east Jerusalem, the Police National Headquarters swallowed portions of that money. Most of the funds were used for their intended purpose, but the minister was accused of intervening. He essentially saved the poor man's lamb.
This state of affairs in untenable: The minister in charge of the police lacks authority and must contend with a police chief and his senior officers, who exploit their positions to intimidate their superiors. In this climate, Gantz's business deal was born in sin and reflects the depth of the corruption within the police. One of the more important goals after the election is to clean the stable.
