Israel’s police chief says force is not prepared for ‘multi-front incident’
Shabtai points to a lack of 'manpower, resources, means, and equipment' which is preventing the police from 'rising to the occasion'
Israel’s police chief Kobi Shabtai on Tuesday said his force was short-staffed and not prepared for a “multi-front” outbreak of violence.
“Today we are much more prepared than we were in the past, during Guardian of the Walls,” Shabtai told a hearing of the Knesset State Control Committee, referring to when violent riots broke out in several Arab-Israeli cities during an 11-day conflict between Israel’s military and Gaza’s Hamas terror group.
“To deal with a large number of sites, stronger, more prepared, but we’re still not where we need to be,” he continued. “We won’t be able to deal with such a scenario if there will be a multi-front incident in the entire State of Israel.”
Shabtai pointed to a lack of “manpower, resources, means, and equipment” which is preventing the police from “rising to the occasion.”
By 2022, some 2,000 police officers had left Israeli law enforcement, according to Israel Hayom.
Shabtai highlighted the police station in Lod – which saw the most violent clashes during the 2021 conflict – which he said was missing 30 percent of its manpower, amounting to 56 officers: “If the issue of salaries for Israel Police officers is not improved, I don’t see an improvement in the manpower situation.”