عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Top Israeli Police Officials Reject New Security Minister

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party (Reuters)
TT
TT

Top Israeli Police Officials Reject New Security Minister

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party (Reuters)

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.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Top Democrats Rule out Replacing Biden amid Calls for Him to Quit 2024 Race

President Joe Biden, left, talks on the phone as he walks to board Air Force One at McGuire Air Force Base, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Burlington County, N.J. (AP)
President Joe Biden, left, talks on the phone as he walks to board Air Force One at McGuire Air Force Base, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Burlington County, N.J. (AP)
TT
TT

Top Democrats Rule out Replacing Biden amid Calls for Him to Quit 2024 Race

President Joe Biden, left, talks on the phone as he walks to board Air Force One at McGuire Air Force Base, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Burlington County, N.J. (AP)
President Joe Biden, left, talks on the phone as he walks to board Air Force One at McGuire Air Force Base, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Burlington County, N.J. (AP)

Top Democrats on Sunday ruled out the possibility of replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee after a feeble debate performance and called on party members to focus instead on the consequences of a second Donald Trump presidency.

After days of hand-wringing about Biden and the outcome of the Nov. 5 election, Democrat leaders firmly rejected calls for their party to choose a younger presidential candidate. Biden, 81, was huddling with family members at the Camp David presidential retreat, with his political future a likely topic of discussion.

But the drumbeat of calls for Biden to step aside continued, and a post-debate CBS poll showed a 10-point jump in the number of Democrats who believe Biden should not be running for president, to 46% from 36% in February.

"The unfortunate truth is that Biden should withdraw from the race, for the good of the nation he has served so admirably for half a century," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said in an editorial on Sunday. "The shade of retirement is now necessary for President Biden."

"Absolutely not," responded Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, one of several Democrats seen as a possible replacement for Biden.

"Bad debates happen," he told NBC's Meet the Press program. "The question is, 'Who has Donald Trump ever shown up for other than himself and people like himself?' I'm with Joe Biden, and it's our assignment to make sure that he gets over the finish line come November."

House of Representatives Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who could become speaker next year if his party can take control of the House in November, acknowledged that Biden suffered a setback in his debate with former President Trump, the Republican candidate.

"I believe a setback is nothing more than a setup for a comeback," he told MSNBC. "So the moment that we're in right now is a comeback moment, and it's going to require all of us to lean in, articulate a forward-looking message as to why the Democratic platform is best equipped to deal with the challenges facing the American people."

Another top House Democrat, Representative James Clyburn, agreed.

"He should stay in this race. He should demonstrate it going forward his capacity to lead the country," he told CNN.

During the debate, a hoarse-sounding Biden delivered a shaky, halting performance in which he stumbled over his words on several occasions. Some Democrats later said privately that the showing could prove to be a disqualifying factor.

BIDEN FAMILY MEETING

Republicans blasted Democratic claims that Biden's poor debate performance was a one-off.

"This idea that Biden had a bad night, that's not the story. He's had a bad presidency, had a disastrous debate," Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, told CNN.

But in his own debate performance, Trump unleashed a barrage of criticisms, many of which were well-worn falsehoods he has long repeated, including claims that migrants have carried out a crime wave, that Democrats support infanticide and that he actually won the 2020 election.

After a frenzied run of seven campaign events across four states since Thursday's debate, Biden headed to Camp David on Saturday for a pre-planned family gathering that includes a family photo shoot, according to two people familiar with the scheduling. The attendees include his wife, Jill Biden, as well as the Biden children and grandchildren.

While the trip had been planned for months, the timing and circumstances of Biden being surrounded by family members who have weighed heavily in his past decisions to run for the presidency have added to the scrutiny around the visit.

With Democratic leaders rallying around his candidacy, it will be up to Biden to decide whether he wants to end his re-election bid.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison and Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez held a Saturday afternoon call with dozens of committee members across the country, a group of some of the most influential members of the party.

The call was part pep talk, part planning meeting for the upcoming national convention, according to two people who were on the call who requested anonymity to discuss private discussions.