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Why Netanyahu wants to replace Israel's police chief

Israel's Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan tries maneuvering between good governance practices and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s desire to replace the head of Israel Police, Roni Alsheikh.
Chief of the Israeli police, Commissioner Roni Alsheikh (C), leaves after speaking to the press at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, on the ongoing tensions surrounding the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on July 27, 2017.  / AFP PHOTO / GALI TIBBON        (Photo credit should read GALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images)
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The original three-year term of the commissioner of Israel Police, Roni Alsheikh, will end in a couple of months. Likud leaders do not envy Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan, who will soon have to decide whether to extend the term of Alsheikh, whom Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees as leading the attempt to topple him by means of criminal investigations.

Since the investigations of the prime minister were revealed to the public in December 2016, Erdan has made sure to conduct himself professionally and appropriately with this hot potato, but Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, have long considered him a collaborator with Alsheikh. The Netanyahus expected Erdan to act aggressively with Alsheikh and to fall on the grenade for them. In other words, they expected Erdan to follow Minister of Culture Miri Regev’s example. Regev did not turn down any chance to fulfill their expectations and their whims, as she showed at the Independence Day torch ceremony, for instance, when Netanyahu addressed the public, contrary to tradition, on that day.

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