Certain types of secret testimony by witnesses fearful of revenge by corrupt policemen have been permitted by Judge Vardi Zayler who is heading a blue ribbon committee investigation into police abuses.
The former judge’s committee was created by Israel’s Internal Security (Police) Minister Gideon Ezra who said its findings would either “toss out the rotten apples” or disprove charges of widespread police corruption.
Israeli media commentators and politicians have observed that many potential witnesses may be afraid to testify because of possible police retribution, hence Judge Zayler’s ruling to accept some categories of testimony confidentially.
The investigation stemmed from a recent Israel TV report about police assistance to organized crime in the country’s southern district, suspiciously tying two murders to internal career wars within the police hierarchy.
Police have also been charged by two Russian businessmen and philanthropists who moved to Israel, Arkady Gaydamak and Michael Cherney (Mikhail Chernoy) with being victimized by the police who tar-brushed them as part of a Russian mafia in Israel. Many experts claim no such criminal network even exists.
General Moshe Mizrahi, former head of the Police unit that investigated the Russians, retired from the force after Minister Ezra accused him of being an “agent of the Left implanted in police ranks.”
