Freedom Tunnel Operation: Ben Gvir intends to dismiss Israeli Prisons Commissioner

Senior officials in the Israeli Ministry of National Security estimated that Minister Itamar Ben Gvir will have to dismiss the Israeli Prisons Commissioner, Katy Perry, from her post, in light of the expected results of the investigation into Operation Freedom Tunnel.

The operation known as the “Tunnel of Freedom” was the escape of six prisoners from the high-security Gilboa prison after they dug a tunnel from their cells on September 6, 2021, which constituted a blow to the Israeli security services, despite the subsequent re-arrest of the six prisoners.

According to a report published by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (“Kan 11”), today, Friday, that the results of the investigation will leave Ben Gvir no choice but to dismiss the Israeli Prisons Commissioner, who had expressed her support for his policies after he assumed the position of Minister of National Security last December. .

The channel indicated that the head of the fact-finding committee about the escape of the six Palestinian prisoners from Gilboa prison, retired judge Menachem Finkelstein, held a meeting with Ben Gvir, two weeks ago, and informed him verbally of the seriousness of the committee’s findings.

Finkelstein conveyed to Ben Gvir indirect messages that he would have no choice but to remove Perry from her post. Kan-11 suggested that the lengthy report prepared by the committee on Operation Freedom Tunnel, which includes more than 200 pages, would be published next May.

The official Israeli channel stated that Ben Gvir recently held a series of meetings with senior officials and leaders in the occupation prisons service, and asked them who they think deserves to be a replacement for the current commissioner, Berry, in the position.

Last September, Israeli reports stated that the Department of Investigation with the Prison Service personnel opened an investigation against Berry, because of the claim of the Prison Service’s legal advisor, that the Commissioner prevented the delivery of information and documents to the investigation committee that was formed about the Gilboa prisoners’ escape.

The prisoners participated in the “Tunnel of Freedom” operation: Mahmoud Al-Ardah, Muhammad Al-Ardah, Zakariya Al-Zubaidi, Ayham Kammaji, Munadel Anfiat, and Yaqoub Qadri, as they managed to escape for a few days before the occupation re-arrested and tried them again.