The Israel Police, which never had a good public relations image and was never very popular among the public, has undergone a rare and unprecedented process of public disintegration. In the last year and a half, seven out of 16 major generals who comprise the high-ranking police command were forced to resign. (A police major general is the equivalent rank of general in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) or in other Western armies.) Four out of seven resigned or were discharged due to suspicions of various forms of sexual harassment against subordinate female police officers.
To this list we must add another major general, Southern District Police commander Uri Bar-Lev, who was slated to be promoted to inspector general in 2011, but whose promotion was canceled at the last minute while he was under investigation for sexual misconduct. Bar-Lev ultimately was forced to resign; the charge was replaced by “unbecoming conduct.”
