The impudence of the retirement packages of senior security officials

For nearly a year, millions of employees and more than half a million self-employed business owners have been trying to keep their heads above water. The corona year hit hard on almost everyone. About a million employees were taken on vacation, returned from them, taken out again and some were also fired. Nearly one hundred thousand businesses have already been closed and many of the hundreds of thousands of other business owners are wielding the sword of debt, which could accompany them for many more years. For them, every shekel is important and it is possible to understand why.

Thus, we found in the report the high salaries, perhaps even with some justification, of the three heads of the main security bodies in the country. At the top is the police commissioner with a salary of more than one hundred thousand shekels gross per month – 100,674 shekels to be exact. He is followed by the highest commissioner of the Prison Service with a monthly gross salary of almost one hundred thousand shekels – 99,548 shekels. And last but not least in this trio is the chief of staff, who certainly did not sleep many nights during his tenure, with a salary of NIS 92,798 per month.

In fact, perhaps the high wage itself is not worthy of criticism. The missions of these bodies, mainly of the army and police, only increase and worsen over the years. A very great responsibility rests on the incumbents in these positions, and also on the Commissioner of Prisons. So why lament? For another reason, very strange and annoying.

An examination we did surprisingly revealed that the very high salary of a trio of senior security officials indicated in the report in charge of salaries, was not paid at all to those who served in these positions in 2019. So to whom were they paid? It turns out that those who did not serve that year.

And this is the reason for the surprising discovery: the wages do not belong to their successors, since it was not possible to appoint at least two of them as permanent replacements at the time of the existence of a transitional government and to promote them. And so a superintendent (and not a super-superintendent) was appointed under them in the police and a gondar (and not a multi-gondar) in the prison service. These were satisfied with a lower salary: Superintendent Moti Cohen was satisfied with NIS 58,279 gross per month, when he served as deputy commissioner for about two years, and Gondar Asher Vaknin earned only NIS 57,025, as acting commissioner of the Prisons Service. The former received almost double salaries. While sitting at home.

Thus, the monthly salary of almost 100,000 shekels was actually received by retired rabbi Ofra Klinger, when she was sitting at home, after she was released at the end of 2018. Retired rabbi Roni Alsich, who served until December 2018, received more than 100,000 shekels for the release leave for nine months At home. And retired chief of staff Gadi Izenkot, who was released in January 2019, received the NIS 92,000 when he was not on standby at home.

sounds strange? So here’s the explanation: Contrary to the opinion of those in charge of salaries for their generations in the Ministry of Finance, these bodies have decided to give choppers to those who have already completed their tenure. After already sitting at home, or as a senior finance official told us, “With a foot on a leg in the living room, cracking kernels and watching TV shows,” they continued to receive their very high wages for another full nine months, without cutting even a single shekel.

The military was the first to invent this long and expensive cooling and called it an “adaptation period” for nine months. A kind of period of pregnancy until the birth of full citizenship. The police and the prison service saw that it was good, and since the salary in them had been linked to the salary in the army years ago – the nine “months of birth” in citizenship, with the high salary for those sitting at home, was warmly adopted in them as well.

Say right away: But wait, senior employees in all government ministries, for example, also have a cooling-off period and an adjustment period. So what’s the difference?

Well, the difference is mainly expressed in two issues: the three executives receive nine (and not six) months of adjustment, and with a salary that is the highest in the public sector in Israel, paid quite insolently to those who actually sit and rest at home.

Because why not, for example, shorten the adjustment period to six months, and at the same time cut the salaries of senior security officials by half or even two-thirds? NIS 50,000 and also NIS 33,000 a month where they sit “foot on foot” at home, is that not enough? Below the poverty line they certainly would not have fallen, not even in these amounts.

And another question: why exactly should a commissioner, chief of staff or prison commissioner adapt? And do they need a cooling off period? In a huge difference from the head of the budget department or the director general of the Ministry of Finance, for example, those who have to cool down – since there is no area in the economy that they did not work in – there are army, police or prisons. They should not have possible conflicts of interest, because fortunately there are no private bodies. Private prisoner) competing with bodies run by senior officials in the years preceding their retirement.

The Ministry of Finance has told us in the past that in the IDF, police and other security bodies it is customary to give “release leave” to those who complete service. Former superiors have already handled these strange payments, but without success. Even today the professional echelon in the Ministry of Finance recognizes and examines the issue. Various proposals that would be appropriate to discuss around the discussions on the priorities of the various bodies, as part of the budget discussions. A former senior finance official told us on this matter: “They were rude, remained rude and will probably remain so.”

The IDF Spokesman’s response: “As part of the conditions of service in the IDF, like other organizations in the country, organizing leave for retirees is organized for the retirees. “For citizenship. The chief of staff’s salary is linked in accordance with a government decision to the salaries of public officials and is similar to the salaries of heads of parallel organizations for which a similar arrangement has been established.”

The Israel Police stated: “In accordance with the government’s decision, the salary of the police commissioner is linked to the salaries of senior public officials. This is similar to the salaries of heads of other parallel organizations. Retirement leave allows retirees from a security body an adjustment period and organizing in the transition to citizenship after a long, demanding and long-term service in the organization. During this period, retirees may not engage in additional work of any kind, except when obtaining a permit for additional work as provided in police orders and procedures. The duration of the retirement leave is limited in time and is determined according to the rank of the retiree. The whole issue is anchored in a police procedure that regulates the duties of the retiree and his rights, from the police commissioner to the last of the retired police officers. “