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Subordination of Mahash to Minister of Justice: Proposal for Government Takeover of Prosecution Authorities

>> Read the full position paper

This position paper was written in collaboration with the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) in response to a bill seeking to impair the independence of the Israel Police’s Internal Investigations Department (known by its Hebrew acronym Mahash). It was submitted to a joint panel of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee and the National Security Committee ahead of a discussion held on 19 May 2025.

Bill on Amendment of Police Ordinance-2022 (Internal Investigations Department), a private bill approved in preliminary reading, is an integral part of the regime revolution pursued by the government since January 2023. Today Mahash operates under the State Attorney’s Office (SAO) and is professionally and organizationally subordinate to it, but the bill proposes to detach it from the SAO, to subordinate it directly to the Minister of Justice, and to empower it to investigate prosecutors.

There is absolutely no room for such a bill in a democratic state predicated on the rule of law and separation of powers for the following reasons:

  • Subordinating Mahash to the Minister of Justice severely violates the rule of law: The bill tears down the vital buffer between political considerations and criminal proceedings and would allow the political echelon to interfere in investigations and prosecutions. Specifically, the appointment of the head of Mahash by Justice Minister Yariv Levin (instead of the professional selection process prescribed by the law today) would allow the latter to control the former as well as Mahash employees seeking promotion, as occurred with the Israel Police following the law amendment that subordinated it to the Minister of National Security.
  • The bill is based on an unsubstantiated claim, devoid of any factual foundation, about a “back-scratching” relationship between the SAO and the Israel Police: Though one might theoretically argue that a potential conflict of interest exists in certain situations, in practice, in over 30 years since Mahash’s establishment, not a single case is known where this concern materialized. Moreover, State Comptroller reports examining Mahash’s performance over the years identified a totally opposite problem, expressing concern that Mahash lacked full professional independence from the Israel Police rather than from the SAO.
  • Mahash’s politicization would deal a lethal blow to freedom of protest and expression: Data show that Mahash is already too lenient toward the Israel Police, especially in cases of violations committed against citizens exercising their right to freedom of protest (less than 1% of the cases of violence at demonstrations result in indictments). Under the direct political control of the Minister of Justice, the likelihood of an effective investigation into violence against anti-government demonstrators would be nonexistent.
  • Empowering a Minister of Justice-controlled Mahash to investigate prosecutors is a dangerous tool: It would allow the government to exert improper pressure on prosecutors handling corruption cases involving public officials and to use bogus investigations to delay or thwart criminal proceedings against members of the government.

Zulat and PCATI categorically oppose the proposed bill, which is not based on any factual or professional foundation but is meant to enable the Minister of Justice to wield dangerous control over Mahash and the investigation of prosecutors.

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Dr. Maha Sabbah Karkabi

 

Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Tel Aviv University (2015), a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Gender Studies, SOAS, University of London (2015-2016), a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Sociology at Tel Aviv University (2016-2017), and a postdoctoral fellowship Ph.D. at the Humphrey Institute for Social Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (2018-2020).
Dr. Maha Karbahi’s areas of interest focus on the connection between social change, family behavior, and gender inequality in societies in the process of change and specifically in Palestinian Arab society in Israel. Her research draws attention to the study of family life and employment, using a combined “ethnic lens” and “gender lens” and paying attention to the perspective of Palestinian Arab women, a group characterized by intersections between multiple marginal locations, which over the years has remained hidden from the research eye. Dr. Karkabi-Sabah’s research is published in professional journals and chapters in scientific books that are considered pioneers in family research, work, and gender equality.

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Prof. Frances Raday

Professor Emeritus in the Lieberman Chair in Labor Law, in the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University and serves as a full professor in the College of Management’s academic track, where she also serves as chair of the graduate program and as honorary president of the Concord Center for International Law Absorption. Radai was a member of a working group of the UN Human Rights Council on discrimination against women. In addition, she is a prominent and feminist human rights activist.

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Dr. Rawia Aburabia 

Faculty member of Sapir Academic College’s School of Law, received her PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research deals with the interface between law, gender, minorities, and human rights. Has published in leading journals on the subject of the matrimonial laws pertaining to Muslim women in Israel. Her book Under the Law, Outside Justice: Polygamy, Gendered Citizenship, and Colonialism in Israeli Law is expected to be published as part of the Gender Series of Kibbutz Meuhad Publishing House.

Dr. Aburabia has extensive experience in international human rights and public law. She has worked as a jurist for the Association for Civil Right and has been invited as a specialist to address such international forums as the United Nations and the European Parliament on the subject of indigenous communities and minority rights. She has interned with Human Rights Watch in Washington DC, and has been a member of the executive board of Amnesty International. In 2018, she was selected by the magazine Globes as one of the 40 most promising young persons in Israel under the age of 40.

 

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Ron Kessler

With over two decades of experience in the field of digital content, Ron has participated in numerous political and social campaigns. He helped run the digital activity of senior public officials, and worked in various NGOs. Ron is a fundamentally optimistic man, who believes that Israel can be changed and so can people. Lives in Tel Aviv.