Moshe Mizrahi, a former Labor MK and former head of the Investigation Department of Israel Police, died Sunday at the age of 72.
Mizrahi was born in the Scottish Hospital in Tiberias on September 20, 1950, the seventh of eight children of Jacob and Belha.
Upon his enlistment in the IDF in November 1968, Mizrahi was assigned to the Golani Brigade and volunteered for Egoz. After completing the infantry medics course, he was injured in a training accident, lost his right eye and as a result was released from the IDF.
Mizrahi earned a law degree at Tel Aviv University, qualified as a lawyer and then joined the police in March 1976 as a police prosecutor.
Later, he was appointed head of the Crime Investigation Department at the Jaffa station, was an investigation division officer in the Yarkon region and served as commander of the Jaffa station and deputy commander of the Ayalon Region.
In 1993, he was appointed commander of the Yehuda Region. The most prominent event in the region during his time as commander was when a resident of Kiryat Arba, Baruch Goldstein, carried out the massacre of the Cave of the Patriarchs.
In September 1995, he was appointed commander of the College for Senior Police Officers. About two years later, he was appointed head of the national unit for investigating serious international crimes.
In December 2000, he was appointed head of the Investigations and Intelligence Division at the rank of lieutenant. In November 2004, Mizrahi was removed from his position by public security minister Gideon Ezra, though he was not asked to resign from the police.
Leaving the police
In 2005, he was appointed commander of the community and civil guard division and in July 2006, he ended his service in the police after 30 years.
After his retirement, he continued public work both at the municipal level in his city, Shoham, and at the national level.
In January 2012, he announced his candidacy for the Labor primaries. Mizrahi was placed 15th on the party list and was elected to the 19th Knesset. In this Knesset, he served as a member of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, the Special Committee for the Rights of the Child, as well as the Special Committee for the Problem of Foreign Workers. He served as a Labor MK for over three years, between 2012 and 2015 and between 2018 and 2019.
He also served as the chairman of the Lobby for the Fight against Corruption in the Public Administration as part of his position and promoted a bill according to which an elected official accused of an offense involving defamation will not be able to return and be elected to public office in the future.
“What a great loss,” said Labor Party head Merav Michaeli. “Moshe Mizrahi, a great soul, a dear man for whom the path of truth was always at the forefront of his mind, fighting corruption constantly and fearlessly. A retired deputy commissioner of the Israel Police and an incredibly committed MK.”
"Moshe Mizrahi, a great soul, a dear man for whom the path of truth was always at the forefront of his mind, fighting corruption constantly and fearlessly."
Labor Party leader Merav Michaeli