The next commander of the police force is going to be religious and with experience as the deputy chief of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).
The committee that must approve senior government appointments, and which is headed by former Supreme Court Justice Yaakov Turkel, cleared Roni Alsheich for the position as police commander on Thursday.
The next and final step before Alsheich takes his new post is approval by the Cabinet, where little or no opposition is expected.
The quick approval by the committee was light years away from the painful and drawn-out process after Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan nominated former senior IDF office Gal Hirsch to take over the police department.
The Turkel committee took nearly a month before stating it could not reach a conclusion, but the nomination of Hirsch was scuttled by Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein, who decided to interfere in announcing that it could take weeks or even longer before completing an investigation of charges of wrongdoing concerning Hirsch’s arms-trading company that dealt with Georgia.
Erdan wasted no time in coming up with Alsheich as his next choice, proving his determination that the next police chief will be from outside the force that has been plagued by scandals ranging from sexual harassment to bribery. Alsheich, whose name was not disclosed until earlier this week, joined the Shin Bet in 1987 after having served an IDF Paratroop officer.
He is a former resident of Samaria but now lives in central Israel, is married and has seven children and seven grandchildren.