Netanyahu: Israel Police Should Consider Appointing a Woman as Commissioner

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, commenting on Tuesday on the recent sexual harassment and other investigations within the Israel Police, suggested that a proper response might be to name a woman as police commissioner.

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"The time may have come to appoint a woman as head of the Israel Police," Netanyahu said, calling it "the right thing" to do.

A series of investigations and resignations, some based on allegations that senior male officers harassed women subordinates, have roiled the Israel Police in the past year and a half.

The most recent one involves an inquiry into whether Deputy Police Commissioner Nissim Mor assaulted and harassed a woman who'd joined the police force only a few months earlier.

Speaking at a meeting in Ariel of students and other supporters of the Likud Party, the prime minister said "the key difference between a civilized state and an uncivilized state is not whether offenses are committed.

"The difference is whether [the offenses] are exposed and whether there's an independent and impartial law-enforcement system to" address them.

"The fact of the matter," he said, is that these issues "are being investigated in depth" within the Israel Police, which itself is the country's law-enforcement agency, and "that's a sign of health."

"If it's up to me, I want to promote this idea" of a woman as police commissioner, Netanyahu said. "I think it would be a refreshing change."