Edri removes himself from consideration for police chief
"Unfortunately, there are many forces whose objective was, from the day I was selected as a candidate, to prevent my candidacy for the post and to slander and speak ill of my good name"
By YONAH JEREMY BOBUpdated: DECEMBER 6, 2018 04:13Moshe (Chico) Edri(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Moshe “Chico” Edri officially withdrew his candidacy for police chief to succeed former chief Roni Alsheich late on Wednesday, leaving no candidates to fill the slot.Until Edri was recently disqualified by a state vetting committee, he had been the only candidate out of three finalists, who appeared to make it through the vetting process designed to catch scandals.However, after appearing to emerge from the vetting unscathed and being publicly nominated by Public Security Gilad Erdan for the job, alleged skeletons started to emerge from Edri’s closet.With no permanent police chief, the job is being filled by a 45-day temporary appointment.“Unfortunately, there are many forces whose objective was, from the day I was selected as a candidate, to prevent my candidacy for the post and to slander and speak ill of my good name and harm my family,” Edri said.The Goldberg Committee disqualified Edri in late November due to a meeting he held with an attorney, who represented one who filed a complaint to the committee against his appointment and the cancellation of tickets issued against a police officer which he favored.The meeting took place just days before Edri was scheduled to meet with the committee.Moreover, there were highly disputed reports on Wednesday that Edri was either coached or explored ways to neutralize any negative repercussions by taking a lie detector test.While Edri denied the reports, along with the other issues and his delayed appointment, the wave became too much for him to continue fighting against.
Erdan expressed heavy frustration with the attacks on Edri, since he had been ready to fight for his appointment even if the issue reached the High Court of Justice.Alsheich only became chief three years ago after Erdan’s initial publicized pick, IDF Brig. Gen. (ret.) Gal Hirsch dropped out after he was publicly attacked with criminal allegations, which were later believed to be baseless.Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this story.
