6/17/2024–|Last updated: 6/17/202406:00 PM (Mecca time)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir placed a vase on his office chair as a form of protest after accusing the police chief, Kobi Shabtai, and the government’s judicial advisor of conspiring against him, turning him into a minister resembling a vase, and obstructing his work on political grounds.
This step by Ben Gvir came on the eve of an expected decision from the Supreme Court regarding amending the law that attached the police and its Inspector General to the office of the Minister of National Security, which many considered an attempt to politicize the work of the police on the part of Ben Gvir and tighten his control over it.
Please don’t worry about it 🪴 pic.twitter.com/BeMbZM3B8K
— Facebook Twitter (@itamarbengvir) June 17, 2024
The crisis began when the police chief revealed details related to obstructing the “protection of aid convoys” heading to the Gaza Strip, in light of the settlers closing the roads leading to the crossings and preventing aid from reaching them.
Haaretz newspaper quoted Shabtai as saying, “The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, ordered the Deputy Commander of the Israeli Police and the Commander of the Southern Region, not to secure convoys of aid trucks to the Gaza Strip, without his knowledge.”
In a letter addressed to the government’s legal advisor, Ghali Behraf Mayara, the police chief explained the cases in which Ben Gvir interfered in the work of the police in violation of a court decision preventing him from handing over executive instructions.
According to Shabtai, when he explained to Ben Gvir that the police would secure the convoys, he said, “There will be consequences for that.”
The Israeli Supreme Court had ordered Ben Gvir to stop these practices last March, but Ben Gvir continued to issue orders and directives directly to some commanders in the police force without informing the police chief, ignoring the decision of the Israeli Supreme Court.