Top cops attend Ben Gvir’s birthday, where cakes decorated with nooses take center stage

Bennett spars with minister over invites, vows to fire officials who politicize roles if he wins election after police chief lets brass go to party along with far-right activists

After National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir invited senior officers of the Israel Police to his 50th birthday party Saturday night, former prime minister Naftali Bennett repeated his vow to fire anyone who takes advantage of their public position for political benefit if he wins the upcoming election.

The party was a controversial affair, both for its guest list and its centerpieces — birthday cakes for the ultranationalist minister decorated with nooses and guns.

Ben Gvir, who oversees the police, celebrated his birthday at a venue in the agricultural community of Emunim, near Ashdod in southern Israel. On the guest list were fellow senior politicians, far-right activists and members of the police’s General Command Staff.

Ben Gvir has faced scrutiny over allegations of undue influence over the police, including in petitions at the High Court of Justice calling for him to be dismissed. The invitations to the force’s commanders — whom Police Commissioner Danny Levy allowed to attend — raised further concern about the pressure Ben Gvir places on law enforcement, which critics have warned is liable to undermine police independence.

Bennett, who is running in this fall’s election to unseat the current government, including Ben Gvir, echoed those concerns in a post on X that included an apparent copy of the invitation. He lambasted Levy’s decision to let senior police officers attend and reiterated his vow to dismiss public servants who politicize their roles.

“Tens of thousands of dedicated and good Israeli police officers deserve honest, efficient and statesmanlike command that sets a personal example,” Bennett posted. “Any public servant, in any role and in any government agency, who breaches his fiduciary duty to the country and exploits his role in a political and non-statesmanlike manner, will be immediately dismissed.”

That drew a one-line retort from Ben-Gvir, who posted, “Naftali has no friends, and also no work relationships — send him a cake from the party.”

Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz, a former high-ranking police investigator, likewise called the decision to grant officers permission to participate in the celebration a “grave incident in the moral and ethical sense.”

A short while later, a series of senior police officers and top politicians were seen arriving at the party. Among the far-right figures were Yoav Eliasi, the rapper known as “The Shadow” who received an honorary police rank in 2024, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, and Bentzi Gopstein, the acolyte of late extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane who runs a group opposing intermarriage.

Also reportedly in attendance were Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, Education Minister Yoav Kisch and Energy Minister Eli Cohen.

Deputy Commissioner Avshalom Peled, commander of the police’s Jerusalem District, was also reportedly in attendance, along with Southern District police chief Haim Bublil; Israel Prison Service central district commander, Sagi Shlomi; prison service’s southern district commander Yuval Erlich, and the commander of the prison service’s northern district Shmuel Lavi.

In an internal memo from the commissioner obtained by Hebrew media, Levy wrote that only members of the police senior command were permitted to go to the celebration.

“Police officers who are not members of the senior command and have been invited to the event are not permitted to attend,” the memo read.

The controversies surrounding the party did not stop at the guest list, however.

A photo posted on Instagram by the far-right minister showed that he had been presented with a large three-tier cake, topped with a golden noose — a reference to the controversial law mandating the death penalty for Palestinians terrorists, which has long been championed by Ben Gvir and his Otzma Yehudit party and which was passed by the Knesset in March.

The bottom layer of the cake featured two guns pointing at a map of Israel, with Gaza and the West Bank included, representing his divisive firearm policies, which have been greatly loosened during his tenure.

Footage from the festivities showed that Ben Gvir’s wife, Ayala, presented him with another, smaller birthday cake, also decorated with a large picture of a noose.

The text around the noose read: “Congratulations to Minister Ben Gvir. Sometimes dreams come true.”

Bennett first made the pledge to fire politicized public servants in a round of TV interviews this week, after he merged his party with Yair Lapid’s centrist Yesh Atid faction in a bid to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Bennett told Channel 12 that officials will be examined “not on the intentions [of their appointment] but on their performance, what they are doing” in their positions.

Without naming any names, Bennett added in the interview that he has seen “crazy things” happen in the Israel Police. “They’re becoming political,” he said. “I suggest now and say to all the police leadership and every government employee, you are now under my scrutiny.”

Bennett was likely referencing Ben Gvir, who has exerted significant policy influence over the police force, which is under his ministry’s oversight. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and several petitioners have argued to the High Court that the ultranationalist politician has overstepped his authority and undermined law enforcement’s independence.

This week, Bennett appointed the ex-commander of the Tel Aviv District Police, Amichai Eshed, to oversee the integrity of the upcoming elections on behalf of his and Lapid’s new slate, called “Together.” Eshed resigned from his position in 2023 amid a spat with Ben Gvir.

Last month, the High Court told Ben Gvir, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to reach an agreement to curb any undue influence by Ben Gvir on police work. Critics say he has improperly interfered in investigations, policing of protests and promotions.

The injunction followed a lengthy hearing on petitions, backed by Baharav-Miara, demanding Netanyahu be forced to fire Ben Gvir after the minister’s repeated alleged violations of a commitment to Baharav-Miara that he would not meddle politically in police work.

But Ben Gvir responded with a defiant statement that he would “continue to appoint [police officers] based on who implements [my] policy, as I have done up until this point, and if the attorney general interferes, we’ll blow up the negotiations.”