Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Prosecutor Amit Aisman have decided that MK Yitzhak Kroizer (Otzma Yehudit) will be investigated under caution on suspicion of aggravated assault of a police officer, Avishai Grinzaig reported on i24NEWS.
The decision follows an incident that occurred two weeks ago in Mitzpeh Yericho, during which Kroizer clashed with police officers.
According to the police, Kroizer assaulted an officer during the incident and was involved in an incident during which an officer broke his nose. The Knesset member, on the other hand, claims that the officers were the ones who acted violently against him.
After the incident was published, Kroizer went to the Police Internal Investigations Department to file a complaint against the officers. He explained that he waited 11 days after the incident to submit the complaint because of the holiday and the workload created by his party's election campaign.
However, the Internal Investigations Department is currently refusing to listen to Kroizer's version of events, a decision which, according to the MK, was ordered by the Attorney General.
To avoid taking duplicate or conflicting statements from Kroizer regarding the same incident, it was decided to delay taking his account at the Department of Internal Police Investigations. Under the arrangement that was set, his version will be taken once before a joint investigative team, which will examine both his complaint against the police officers and the officers' complaint against him.
Police believe that the investigative material collected regarding the incident points to Kroizer's involvement, and had already expected to request authorization to question him under caution. At the same time, the first suspects involved in the incident were questioned.
Kroizer criticized the conduct of the Department of Internal Police Investigations and the Attorney General after his complaint was not taken. "DIPI and the Attorney General - what are you afraid of?" he wrote on X. He said he had gone to DIPI to complain about violence that he claims was used against him during a memorial ceremony for four of his friends, fallen IDF soldiers, but that after nearly four hours of waiting, his complaint was not taken.
"I will not allow anyone to whitewash the incident, silence the affair, or prevent the truth from being clarified," Kroizer wrote. "I demand that my complaint be accepted and investigated immediately, that the truth come to light, and that anyone who bears responsibility be held accountable. The law is not merely a recommendation - certainly not for those entrusted with enforcing it."
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir added: "The criminal Attorney General's decision regarding MK Yitzhak Kroizer this morning raises serious concern about selective enforcement and political use of the law enforcement system on the eve of the elections. A member of Knesset comes to the memorial ceremony of a childhood friend who fell in battle, is allegedly subjected to severe violence, suffers a broken rib, and goes to DIPI to file a complaint. Instead of examining his complaint, they are trying to turn the complainant into a suspect. The claim that this was done on the Attorney General's instructions requires an immediate investigation.
"Why, in the cases of MKs Gilad Kariv, who leaked classified material, and Naama Lazimi, who set a fire on the Ayalon long ago, are decisions still being delayed, while in Kroizer's case they are acting with such speed? Since when does an Attorney General decide to investigate an MK in less than a day? The Attorney General must provide answers to the Israeli public," Ben-Gvir added.
"The law is not the Attorney General's private property," he said. "I demand an immediate and equal examination of the incident. We will give our answer to the criminal Attorney General on the 27th of the month, when Otzma Yehudit will act to remove her from office."