Danino, Aharonovitch agree to end public feud over next police chief

Police inspector-general. and public security minister agree to no longer make public comments on appointment of next chief of police.

By BEN HARTMAN
Yohanan Danino (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Yohanan Danino
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Police Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino and Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch will no longer make public comments on the appointment of the next chief of police, according to a statement that the National Police Headquarters put out Tuesday.
The two men had been engaged in a public war of words over the selection of the country’s next top cop.
According to the statement, the two men met at Aharonovitch’s Tel Aviv office on Tuesday.
“The meeting was held with a positive atmosphere, and at the end they agreed that there won’t be any more public debate on the appointment of the next chief of police,” it read.
A day earlier, during a visit to the Temple Mount, Aharonovitch was asked about comments Danino had made in a weekend interview with Yediot Aharonot, in which the latter had expressed his opposition to appointing someone from outside the police as the next chief.
“This is a very miserable statement by the current chief of police, who is giving me suggestions,” Aharonovitch said. “These types of things are unnecessary, and I don’t accept them, and the chief should focus on his concerns and not who the next chief will be.”
The minister supports the possibility of appointing an outside official, a possibility that is increasingly likely in light of a number of top police commanders’ retirement in recent months. Among those commanders is Central District chief Bruno Stein, who resigned in September during a controversy over his attendance at the party of a man who is under investigation in a major corruption case.