Itsik Saban

Itsik Saban is Israel Hayom's police and crime correspondent.

Bring back public trust in institutions

Only an in-depth investigation, with results presented with speed and transparency, will remove the black cloud hovering over the Israel Police spyware scandal, the submarine affair, and the Meron stampede disaster, events that shook the nation to its core.

 

The report of Deputy Attorney General Amit Marari, which is expected to be published soon, may contradict an earlier investigation into alleged spyware use by the Israel Police. It is unclear whether the findings of the committee that was in charge of the probe will convince those who have already made up their minds.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

News of the reported use of the NSO's now-infamous Pegasus spyware by the police to track Israelis – including ministers, high-ranking government officials, CEOs and activists – shook the country to its core.

But launching a probe is not harmful. On the contrary, the NSO case is proof that investigation committees are the best antidotes to allegations.

Just this week, a former female guard at the Gilboa prison, from which six Palestinian prisoners escaped last year and which is alleged to have pimped out female guards to inmates, alleged that she had indeed been raped while serving there.

"My commanders, fellow members, who I thought were supposed to protect me, delivered me into the hands of that terrorist," she said. "They made sure I was left alone with him, contrary to procedures, so that he could brutally hurt me and sexually abuse me again and again, and not only me, but many other female guards as well."

Any normal person would think that such serious accusations must be investigated thoroughly. Could it possibly be true that Gilboa prison officers, whose own daughters are the same age as the guard who came forward, handed her over to a terrorist, knowing full well that she would be abused? Is it possible that in order to obtain information officers turned female soldiers into sex slaves? The mind cannot bear.

It doesn't matter whether the Gilboa prison commander, who revealed the scandalous events in his first testimony into the escape investigation, did so to avert the media's attention from the jailbreak. What does matter is making sure no stone is left unturned to remove once and for all the black cloud that has been hovering above the prison service in recent years, as well as the submarine affair and the Meron stampede tragedy.

This will be achieved not through politicians, Knesset committees, or worse yet, on social media, but by an in-depth investigation whose findings will be shared with the public with speed and full transparency.

As American Jewish lawyer Louis Brandeis said, "Sunlight is the best disinfectant."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

Related Posts