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Israel needs new police chief, but is Gal Hirsch the one for the job?

With the deteriorating image of Israel's police force, it was necessary to appoint an outside candidate as police chief, but perhaps controversial reserve Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch is not the right person for the task.
Israeli police officers walk past a post office building in East Jerusalem April 29, 2014. A Jewish seminary, in a bustling commercial area in the same building as a post office serving thousands of Palestinians every day, is the first Jewish housing venture on Saladin Street, a main shopping thoroughfare across from the walled Old City. Palestinians and Israeli critics worry the placement of the academy in such a central location is asking for trouble in East Jerusalem, which has stayed largely trouble-fre
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Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan made the right decision in appointing an outsider to head up the national police force after realizing the extent of the disease and rot in the organization. His decision to look for a candidate among the ranks of the military was also correct, given the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) healthier organizational culture. Erdan, one of the smartest and most talented members of the government, displayed independent, out-of-the-box creative thinking and good intentions. Nevertheless, he chose the wrong man for the job.

In the days since the Aug. 24 naming of Brig. Gen. (Res.) Gal Hirsch as the next police commissioner, more and more questions have arisen regarding his suitability and competence for the position at such a complex juncture for the police force.

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