Former Police Chief Alsheikh Raises Storm After Admitting Police Hoped Netanyahu Would Resign After Indictments

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Former Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh raised a storm of controversy after he revealed on Israel’s Galei Tzahal radio station that police had believed that prime minister Netanyahu would resign over the indictments being issued against him. Likud and other right-wing MKs charged Alsheikh of trying to force a coup and topple a governing prime minister by submitting various charges against him.

“When the charges were brought against him, our expectation was that he would resign,” Alsheikh said, adding that “nobody could have guessed that the prime minister wouldn’t resign and would continue to fight within the system.

“My words are aimed at the party which is fighting and doesn’t understand that ‘for the good of our country’ it should place another person at our helm.”

Alsheikh stressed that “there was no plan to depose a standing prime minister, nobody could have imagined what would happen as a result of submitting the indictments.”

Alsheikh’s words led to sharp criticism. Minister Moshe Arbel (Shas) said that “Roni Alsheikh’s statements on Galei Tzahal that there was a clear working plan to topple an elected prime minister must worry anyone who wishes to live in a democratic state. These terrible words against the heart of the democratic system must be part of civic studies and must serve as a warning to us, those who support the government and those who oppose it. The policy of toppling an elected government by framing its leaders is the biggest danger to democracies.”

The Likud party said that “In his jarring admission this morning, Alsheikh revealed that the plot to overthrow the government had not gone as planned…..the only thing which foiled his plan to overthrow the government was Netanyahu’s steadfast stand and his insistence on fighting for the truth to be revealed. Alsheikh’s admission should lead to his being interrogated as well as those who were party to his plan in order to reveal the motives behind submitting the indictments against a sitting prime minister.”