Roni Alsheikh (or Roni Alsheich, he, רוני אלשיך, born 20 March 1963) is an Israeli former intelligence officer and head of the

Israel Police The Israel Police ( he, משטרת ישראל, ''Mišteret Yisra'el''; ar, شرطة إسرائيل, ''Shurtat Isrāʼīl'') is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fightin ...

. After serving as an officer in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

, Alsheikh joined

Shin Bet The Israel Security Agency (ISA; he, שֵׁירוּת הַבִּיטָּחוֹן הַכְּלָלִי; ''Sherut ha-Bitaẖon haKlali''; "the General Security Service"; ar, جهاز الأمن العام), better known by the acronym Shabak ( he, ...

and rose to become its deputy head before being appointed General Commissioner of the

, serving in the role from 2015 to 2018.

Biography

Alsheikh was born in 1963 in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. His father, Avraham Alsheikh, was a Yemenite-Jewish immigrant who came to Israel as part of

Operation Magic Carpet Operation Magic Carpet was the post-World War II operation by the War Shipping Administration to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European, Pacific, and Asian theaters. Hundreds of Liberty ships, Victory ships ...

, and his mother, Ahuva Amar, was born in Jerusalem to a family of Moroccan-Jewish origin. He lived in Jerusalem until age 8, when his family moved to

Kiryat Arba :''This article is mainly about the modern Israeli settlement, not the biblical town'' Kiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba ( he, קִרְיַת־אַרְבַּע, , Town of the Four) is an urban Israeli settlement on the outskirts of Hebron, in the south ...

, an

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli se ...

in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. In school, he was identified as a gifted child, and skipped three grades, transferring from the third to sixth grade. He attended a religious high school and graduated at age 16. He was conscripted into the

in 1981 and joined the

Paratroopers Brigade The 35th Brigade ( he, חֲטִיבַת הַצַּנְחָנִים, ''Hativat HaTzanhanim''), also known as the Paratroopers Brigade, is an infantry brigade unit of paratroopers within the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and forms a major part of ...

. Alsheikh went on the serve as a commander of the brigade's Engineer Company and as deputy-commander of the 50th battalion of the Nahal Brigade. Alsheikh fought in the

1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, dubbed Operation Peace for Galilee ( he, מבצע שלום הגליל, or מבצע של"ג ''Mivtsa Shlom HaGalil'' or ''Mivtsa Sheleg'') by the Israeli government, later known in Israel as the Lebanon War or the First L ...

, and participated in

Operation Law and Order Operation Law and Order was an Israeli military operation against a Hezbollah base in the village of Maydoun. Background On April 26, 1988, a Hezbollah infiltration attempt at Har Dov ended in a battle during which an Israeli officer, Lieuten ...

in 1988. He left the

in 1988 with the rank of Rav Seren (Major). Alsheikh studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

, earning a BA from the

University of Haifa The University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming Is ...

and an MA from

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

, both of them ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

''. He studied for a master's degree in criminology at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

, and graduated from a senior management program at the

Wharton School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...

of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. He also studied at the

Mercaz HaRav Kook Mercaz HaRav (officially, he, מרכז הרב - הישיבה המרכזית העולמית, "The Center of Rabbi ook- the Central Universal Yeshiva") is a national-religious yeshiva in Jerusalem, founded in 1924 by Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Abraha ...

, a prominent

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...

in Jerusalem. Alsheikh joined the

in December 1988, and was appointed deputy director in September 2014. In September 2015, Minister of Public Security,

Gilad Erdan Gilad Menashe Erdan ( he, גִּלְעָד מְנַשֶּׁה אֶרְדָן, ; born 30 September 1970) is an Israelis, Israeli politician and diplomat serving as Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations since 2020. Erdan previo ...

announced Alsheikh's nomination to be the 18th

General Commissioner A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...

of the

. He served in the role for three years. During his time as Police Commissioner, he oversaw criminal investigations into then-Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

over corruption allegations. The investigations eventually resulted in the indictment and

Trial of Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu served three times as Israel's Prime Minister from 1996–1999, 2009–2021, and from 2022 onwards. His fourth and fifth term as prime minister was overshadowed by ongoing investigation into alleged bribery, fraud and breach ...

. Alsheikh's term as Police Commissioner ended after three years. It was not extended to a fourth year as is usually customary. The refusal to extend his term was widely seen as an act of retaliation by Netanyahu over the corruption probes.

NSO violations of civil rights

Alsheikh is implicated in starting an illegal surveillance program in the Israeli police and using undemocratic and illegal surveillance software to break into civilians phones and extracting information without the authorization of judges and without proper legislation. However, the subsequent Marari report found that in all the technological systems used for tapping communications between computers in the hands of the police that were examined, there was no indication that police operated to tap mobile phones without a judicial warrant. Also, no indication was found that it used NSO's Pegasus without a judicial warrant to penetrate the phones of the names published in Calcalist.

Personal life

Alsheikh is married. He is the father of seven children, and is a grandfather. He currently resides in

Givat Shmuel Giv'at Shmuel ( he, גִּבְעַת שְׁמוּאֵל, , Samuel's Hill) is a city in the Central District (Israel), Center District of Israel. It is located in the eastern part of the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area, Gush Dan Metropolitan Area and bor ...

, having previously lived in the

s of Kokhav HaShahar and

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alsheikh, Roni 1963 births Living people Israeli Jews Israeli police chiefs People from Jerusalem People from Kiryat Arba Israeli settlers Israeli soldiers People of the Shin Bet Mercaz HaRav alumni Tel Aviv University alumni University of Haifa alumni Israeli people of Yemeni-Jewish descent Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent