Police Commissioner Dismisses HaTzel from Rapid Response Team Command in Tel Aviv District

The Police Commissioner, Rav-Nitzav Dani Levy, has decided to dismiss rapper Yoav Eliasi (HaTzel) — who is close to Minister Itamar Ben Gvir — from his position as commander of the rapid response team in the Tel Aviv District. This follows an investigation by Haaretz, according to which the singer used his connections in the police for the benefit of an entertainment complex in Tel Aviv in which he was a partner.

Among other things, recordings were published in which he boasted about his connections in the police, which helped him prevent the closure of the John Doe club after a violent incident occurred there.

"I am educating them there in the police that this club cannot be touched," he told one of the partners at the place in May of last year, according to the investigation, and urged him: "Anything related to the police and the club, you call me at that moment, no matter what time."

Eliasi was outraged by the police's decision to close the club at 4:30 AM that same day: "It makes me very, very angry. Why did they close it? And who is the policeman? It is very important." When he was told that the club manager had spoken with police officer Menashe Mansour from the Lev Tel Aviv station, he replied: "Menashe is a friend like a brother, I will talk to him now."

"Everyone knew that if there were problems with the police, Yoav would solve them," testified Idan Harpak, who served as head of the security team at the club and was stabbed that night in September. "He told me that as soon as there is a problem with the police, to call him and he will solve it with them. Yoav was a magic word – if police officers came, I would tell them that I am a friend of Yoav. It was clear to us that the club receives leniency from the police thanks to Yoav, we knew he was involved with all the officers and policemen, he has connections and he has power."

Another person who worked at the time at the club, in which Eliasi was a partner between February 2025 and February of this year, says things in a similar vein: "For us as employees, it was clear that Yoav was connected to the fact that the restaurant was not closed after the stabbing, and that after a few days the entire complex returned to work as usual. Someone pulled a knife in the club and stabbed an employee; any other place would have been closed for a long period. We knew there was someone looking out for us in the police and settling matters with them."