Last update - 00:00 13/04/2007
Turkel panel okays nomination of David Cohen for police chief
By Yuval Yoaz and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents
The Turkel Commission convened Friday morning and unanimously approved the appointment of Major General David Cohen to the position of police commissioner.
Cohen was nominated for the job by Public Security Minister Avi Dichter earlier this week. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed his support for the nomination.
Cohen will replace outgoing Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi who resigned in February after a government commission said he ignored ties between senior officers and underworld figures.
The commission, in charge of reviewing appointments to senior positions within the police force, interviewed Dichter and Karadi as well as Cohen himself before making their decision.
Dichter called Yaakov Turkel, who heads the Turkel Commission, to thank him for approving Cohen's appointment. The appointment will be brought before the cabinet for approval on April 22.
Dichter orders senior policemen dismissed over Parinyan affair
On Thursday, Dichter instructed police to begin dismissal proceedings against Police Commander Yoram Levy and Police Superintendent Reuven Gilboa in light of the recommendations of the Zeiler Committee.
The committee, which was charged with investigating the handling of the probe into the murder by a policeman of suspected crime boss Pinhas Buhbut, recommended that Levy and Gilboa be dismissed from the police and possibly demoted to lower ranks.
The report found deficiencies in the performance of several senior police officers, including outgoing Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi, who announced his resignation hours after the findings of the report became public.
The committee found that Levy and Gilboa's actions were "unacceptable and maybe even illegal, in violation of police norms of proper regulations, fairness, good faith, obligation to report, and telling the truth."
Both officers will be given the right to a hearing prior to being dismissed, as required by law.
Dichter met with outgoing Deputy Police Commissioner Benny Kaniak, who has been placed in charge of implementing the Zeiler recommendations. Kaniak was place in charge after Karadi disqualified himself due to his personal involvement in the affair.
Dichter informed Kaniak that he is accepting the committee's recommendations involving individual officers, and decided that three additional officers should be officially censured.