National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Thursday evening summoned the commander of the Jerusalem District of the Israel Police to reprimand him in the wake of what he described as "the loss of control of the police in the capital city to a group of anarchists", during a protest of left-wing activists led by the Crime Minister movement.
"The Jerusalem Police lost control over the anarchists. An incident in which burning tires were set on fire near the Prime Minister's Residence, Highway 1 was blocked, and light rail traffic was blocked - these are all extremely serious incidents in which police and security forces were on the scene, but were explicitly instructed not to enforce the law and not to confront the rioters," said Ben Gvir.
In response, Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai issued a statement in which he said, "The Commissioner backs the Jerusalem District, its commanders and its chief, Superintendent Doron Turgeman, for standing firm and exercising discretion in dealing with the protest and the subsequent breach of order. In addition, the Commissioner regrets the fact that the investigation of the matter is carried out in a public manner while the police forces are operating in the field, and not through an operational investigation which is carried out at the end of the activity, as is customary."