Israel Prison Service (IPS) Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi will be summoned for a second hearing after prosecutors completed additional investigative steps in the so-called “Ben-Gvir associates” affair, ahead of a potential indictment on suspicion of public-integrity offenses, including fraud, breach of trust, and obstruction of investigative proceedings.
In its notice on Thursday, the prosecution said Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Aisman were weighing criminal charges against Yaakobi, subject to a pre-indictment hearing.
At the heart of the matter is suspicion that Yaakobi – who previously served as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s security secretary before being appointed by him to head the IPS – passed “confidential and sensitive information” to a senior West Bank police officer regarding a covert investigation into that officer, thereby allegedly compromising the investigation.
The senior officer at the heart of the underlying probe is Avishai Muallem, a former commander in the West Bank district’s central police unit. Investigators suspect Muallem deliberately mishandled or “papered over” investigations into Jewish nationalist violence in the West Bank, allegedly in an effort to curry favor and advance professionally.
The affair has also encompassed questions about contact between suspects and people in Ben-Gvir’s circle, including his close aide Hanamel Dorfman, who has been questioned under caution in the same broad investigation.
Ben-Gvir has repeatedly attacked the investigation publicly and backed Yaakobi, framing the case as politically motivated, rejecting the Thursday notice to Yaakobi, saying that “he will remain chief for many years to come.”
Yaakobi was first reported to have been questioned in the affair after investigators detained multiple senior figures in late 2024, as the Justice Ministry’s Police Investigation Department probed suspicions surrounding enforcement failures and alleged improper influence in the West Bank district.
In July 2025, the Attorney-General’s Office announced it was considering an indictment against Yaakobi, subject to a hearing, over suspicions tied to interference in the covert probe.
Thursday’s notice signals prosecutors are moving the file toward a charging decision, pending Yaakobi’s hearing.