Organizers say some 500,000 attended anti-overhaul protests nationwide

Police chief says ‘I was wrong’ in removing Tel Aviv district commander

With anti-overhaul demonstrations now in their 10th week, Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai gives a brief address in which he says he “made a mistake” in approving the removal of the Tel Aviv district police commander from his post.

The ouster of Amichai Eshed was announced on Thursday evening by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has repeatedly criticized what he claims is overly soft policing of the demonstrations, including the blocking of major highways. Minutes after the announcement, Eshed oversaw the police response to a terror attack in Tel Aviv.

“I was wrong,” says Shabtai of his ouster of Eshed. “I made a mistake in the weighing [of the move], the timing and the path.”

Eshed’s removal — he was to be transferred to head police training — was immediately frozen by the attorney-general, amid concerns that it was carried out at Ben Gvir’s instigation, in a breach of the minister’s permitted behavior. Ben Gvir said earlier this evening that Shabtai told him two months ago that Eshed was not the right officer for the Tel Aviv job.

“I respect the attorney general’s decision to freeze the appointment,” says Shabtai, asserting that he and Eshed will “continue to work professionally” together.

He says Eshed’s ouster/transfer was supposed to be carried out a few weeks from now, after the high-tension month of Ramadan, as part of a wider police reshuffle. He does not specify whether he still intends to transfer Eshed as originally planned.

Amid calls, including from within the force, for him to resign over the Eshed fiasco, Shabtai vows to continue in his post.

In 37 years of service in uniform, he says, “I’ve never abandoned a front — and I don’t intend to do so now.”

“I am obligated to Israel’s values,” he says. “I promise you, the people of Israel, that I will protect your right to protest — as long as it is within the law.”

He adds: “And I won’t capitulate to any political pressure on the issue.”

Shabtai defends his force’s handling of the demonstrations, saying officers have been protecting “the freedom to protest in the State of Israel” and upholding public order.

“We don’t want to see blood on the streets,” he says, citing incidents when protesters were injured by police stun grenades and when an elderly woman was handcuffed.

“Even if there are doubts about specific incidents, we investigated them,” he says, adding that the lessons of those incidents are being applied in the field.

Soon after Shabtai speaks, Eshed is seen at tonight’s protest in Tel Aviv, where he is given a rousing reception.