Asst.-Ch. Meni Benjamin, head of the Israel Police’s Lahav 433 – the National Crime Unit, issued his first statement after he was detained for questioning on suspicion of breach of trust and abuse of power.
“I am very disappointed in the Police Internal Investigations Department. The way they detained me for questioning, they could have done it in a more respectful manner. Despite all this, I cooperated fully,” Benjamin said.
“Honestly, after they asked so many questions and I answered all of them freely without consulting lawyers, without filters, I expected the Internal Investigations Department to be fair and not play games with me,” he said, adding that he surrendered his cellphone to authorities.
“I did not expect them to remove me from my job. If they had even a shred of evidence, even something small on the face of it, they would have gone with me to court. At the very least, house arrest.”
Benjamin was detained for questioning on Wednesday night as part of an investigation by the Justice Ministry’s Police Investigation Department (PID) into alleged misuse of authority and breach of trust.
Lahav 433 chief investigated for professional misconduct
According to reports, the interrogation concerns alleged professional misconduct, though the precise nature of the suspicions remains under judicial confidentiality.
“Any police officer or commander who is detained or arrested for questioning shakes the foundations of our organization, it’s a blow to the organization, certainly when it concerns the head of Lahav, a commissioner I recommended appointing and whom I value at the highest level,” Police Commissioner Dany Levy said, adding that Benjamin is an “excellent and professional officer.”
“He has led the unit over the past year under my command in an outstanding manner in the field of crime in the Arab sector and in the area of public corruption. Let us hope everything will work out and he will return to the unit.”
Benjamin’s lawyer, Uri Korb, said that the Lahav chief fully cooperated with investigators.
“My client, the head of Lahav, was questioned for seven hours by the Internal Investigations Department, fully cooperated with the investigation, and handed over his code and his cellphone to the investigators. My client’s version made clear that there was no blemish in his actions, and not for nothing was he released without conditions, except for suspension from his job until this coming Thursday."
“Unfortunately, a gag order has been imposed on the case, which does not allow my client to share the facts at this stage, an order that leads to the spread of urban legends and baseless stories,” he added. “Soon the details will be revealed and it will become clear that this is much ado about nothing, and the head of Lahav will return to his dedicated work on behalf of the public.”
Notably, Likud MK Tally Gotliv publicly revealed Benjamin’s identity on Thursday in defiance of a court-issued gag order.
Shortly after the investigation became known, Gotliv published the officer’s name on X/Twitter.
In her post, she wrote: “This is not a probe into duty, but a witch hunt driven by political motives.”
Gotliv’s post may have breached both the court restrictions and the Knesset’s code of ethics, though, as an MK, she enjoys parliamentary immunity from prosecution.
Benjamin was reportedly attending a seminar for senior police officers in Jerusalem when PID investigators approached him at the conclusion of the event and asked that he accompany them for questioning.