Top police officials said they are fearful of the repercussions of Amir Ohana being appointed public security minister, and launched a popular campaign to overturn the decision.
Israel’s new government will be sworn in on Thursday, with Ohana expected to receive the security ministry portfolio.
In formal letters to Blue and White party chairman Benny Gantz, as the Knesset speaker, and President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially announced Wednesday that he succeeded in forming a new government.
According to the coalition agreement, the new government will see Gantz replace Netanyahu as prime minister after 18 months.
The government will include 34 ministers, half of whom are from the right-wing, while the rest from Gantz’ coalition that includes Blue and White, and the Labor party.
Police officials fear that as public security minister, Ohana will seek to remove the current police leader and appoint an outsider to lead the force.
They are also concerned that Ohana could move to curtail the work of the investigation unit, which focuses on fraud and corruption, and has led the probes against Netanyahu.
Former Jerusalem District police chief Aryeh Amit announced that Ohana was behind a coup in the public prosecution against its chiefs who wanted to file an indictment against Netanyahu. Ohana later removed a number of them.
Amit believes Ohana intends to repeat the same scenario with the police, and “must be stopped.”
Former Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon claimed that Netanyahu wants to appoint Ohana as Minister in order to thwart investigations against him.
He added that Ohana destroyed the Ministry of Justice and ran a fierce attack against the government's attorney general.
“We have gone from a democratic system to one that is close to a dictatorship, where Netanyahu controls everything. This is dangerous.”
Yaalon revealed there are cases that have not been investigated yet and have been postponed due to elections. He added that if the government was formed, the legal advisor will launch an investigation into several corruption cases, some of which include Netanyahu and figures close to him.
Netanyahu carried out several illegal actions during the elections, such as wiretapping and spying on a number of rival party leaders, according to Yaalon.
