The Knesset on Tuesday evening approved a preliminary reading of a bill amending a law that will allow the transfer of power from the police to the newly formed National Security Ministry, to be headed by Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The explanation for the bill, which received 61 votes in favor versus 53 opposed, states: “A fundamental principle in modern democracy is that the political level, i.e. the elected officials, outline and guide policy, and the executive level implements this policy. Indeed, it can be seen that the IDF carries out the government’s policy and the policy of the appointed minister and is subject to their instructions.”

“Accordingly, and in order to create a coherent legislative fabric which is in line with the basic principle mentioned in the beginning, it is proposed to apply a similar arrangement to the police order, with regard to the relations between the Israel Police and the government and the appointed minister.”

Ben-Gvir presented the bill, stating: “The police order is an old order that cannot exist in a democratic country. We are the defenders of democracy and we will fight for it. In a democracy, a minister can determine the policy of his office…only in third world countries is the chief of police the one who sets the policy.”

Ben-Gvir also silenced his critics in the outgoing coalition by stating the reality of many Israelis who live in close proximity to Arabs: “You’re not interested in the State of Israel. If you walk around the country, you realize how much damage you’ve wreaked and how much needs to be fixed. In Be’er Sheva, I met women who are afraid to go to the mall. In Akko, I met a family that said they can’t go to the beach.  In Ramle, a woman cried and told me: ‘My son goes to school with a baseball cap and they take it off his head.’ You brought us to this situation and the people chose otherwise.”

A bill allowing Religious Zionist party chairman Betzalel Smotrich to become an independent minister in the Defense Ministry was also approved in a preliminary reading.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)