Israel's police chief asks attorney general to clear appointments Ben-Gvir hasn't signed

Israel's police commissioner, Daniel Levi, has asked the attorney general for permission to appoint police officers without the signature of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Hebrew news site Ynet reported, describing the story as its own first publication. According to Ynet, the request would in effect let the commissioner go around the minister on the appointments in question.

The Jerusalem Post reported the same request later the same day, framing it as an effort by the police chief to push forward appointments that Ben-Gvir has not yet signed, and describing the rift between the two men as growing deeper.

Who is involved

Daniel Levi holds the rank Ynet gives in Hebrew as rav-nitzav, the highest rank in the Israel Police, held only by the force's commander. In Israeli media the post is commonly called the mafkal, short for the Hebrew term for police commissioner, or inspector-general. Itamar Ben-Gvir is the National Security Minister, the cabinet member responsible for the police. The two have appeared together in official settings: a Jerusalem Post photograph shows them at a ceremony at Israel Police headquarters in Jerusalem on November 30, 2025, unveiling 234 new traffic police vehicles under a national road-safety programme.

The attorney general, referred to in Hebrew by the abbreviation yoamash (Ynet uses the feminine form, indicating the office is currently held by a woman), is the government's chief legal adviser. The office advises ministers and state bodies on what the law permits, which is why a dispute over who must sign off on an appointment can end up on that desk.

Why the minister's signature matters

The core of the dispute, as both outlets describe it, is that certain police appointments are waiting on the minister's approval. Ynet says the commissioner wants authorisation to make the appointments without needing Ben-Gvir's signature at all. The Jerusalem Post describes the request as a bid to advance appointments the minister has yet to sign. The two descriptions point in the same direction, but they differ slightly in scope: one suggests a broader authority to appoint without the minister, the other a move to unblock specific pending appointments. The reports do not specify which officers or which posts are involved.

How the relationship broke down

Ynet presents the request as the latest round in an ongoing confrontation between the commissioner and the minister. According to its account, relations between the two have deteriorated through a series of stages: public clashes between them, delays to budgets, allegations of what Ynet places in quotation marks as "extortion", and an outright breakdown in contact between their two offices. Ynet does not, in the material available, say who accused whom of extortion or what the budget delays concerned.

The Jerusalem Post likewise characterises the episode as part of a widening rift rather than a one-off disagreement over paperwork.

For readers outside Israel, the significance is institutional as much as personal. The minister responsible for the police and the officer who commands it would ordinarily need a working relationship to fill senior posts. A commissioner turning to the government's legal adviser to proceed without the minister is a sign that the normal channel between them is, on these accounts, not functioning.

What the reports do not say

Neither report, as available to us, says whether the attorney general has responded to the request or is expected to rule on it. Neither includes a response from Ben-Gvir or his office, or a statement from the Israel Police explaining the commissioner's move. The number of appointments affected, the ranks or posts involved and how long they have been pending are not given. Ynet's reference to claims of "extortion" is not attributed to a named person in the material, and the reports do not set out the legal basis on which the commissioner believes he could act without the minister's signature.