Simcha Rothman, chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, has defended proposed legislation concerning Mahash, Israel's police internal investigations unit, while sharply criticizing Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
Speaking on the "We Are the Majority" program on Galei Yisrael radio, Rothman described the Mahash bill as a critical component of judicial system reform. He explained that Mahash currently operates as a department under the Justice Ministry's prosecution division, but investigations have revealed that the prosecution itself has been involved in cases under scrutiny.
According to Rothman, this creates a fundamental conflict of interest. Police officers feel compelled to follow prosecution directives out of fear they could face Mahash investigations themselves, he said. "This created a conflict of interest between Mahash and the prosecution and the Attorney General, who heads the prosecution ... A prosecutor could be a criminal under the protection of the law, with no one to investigate them."
