A partial explanation for the disturbing and faltering situation of the pre-investigation inquiry into police complaints against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requires us to return to the source and see how things became so twisted that an aggressive and controlling Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit could tie the hands of police detectives, rendering them either too afraid or embarrassed to pull out their whistles and give even the slightest blow.

The leadership of the National Fraud Squad, known by its Hebrew acronym Yaha, puts whoever heads it in a key position in the Israel Police. Since the fraud squad took off in the mid-1970s under its founder Binyamin Siegel, commanding it is considered one of the high points of any detective’s career. “The unit’s objective,” according to official police publications, “is exposing, uncovering, and investigating violations in the realm of public corruption.” Corrupt ones, you will melt in the glaring, fiery stare of the Siegels.

If they dared, politicians of all parties would be happy to get rid of the unit set up by then-Police Commissioner Shaul Rosolio and Police Minister Shlomo Hillel, at the encouragement of then-Attorney General Aharon Barak; but what was done cannot be rolled back, and those who try may find it will boomerang. So here’s another strategy: No one advances from Yaha.

For 20 years, ever since the first investigations against Netanyahu, no Yaha commander has advanced beyond the rank of brigadier general. Most have resigned in frustration, sometimes after the breaking of an explicit promise to promote them to a task bearing the rank of major general. At the same time, commanders of its sister division, the Serious and International Crimes Unit, have been promoted to major general and even to police commissioner. The circumstances are varied and sometimes contradictory – the establishment recoiled from Moshe Mizrahi and embraced Yohanan Danino – but the cumulative impression is clear; it pays to deal with organized crime with global connections, and not with government crimes committed with global funds. Investigate the prime minister? Any sane police officer will keep his distance.

The current Yaha commander, Brig. Gen. Coresh Bar-Nur, who is recovering from a medical problem, is not the most senior investigator. Above him there are two or three levels in the police, and another two in the Justice Ministry: the commander of the uber-unit, Lahav 433, is subordinate to the head of the Investigations and Intelligence Branch (known by its Hebrew acronym Aham) which is guided by the state prosecutor, with the attorney general overseeing all of them.

The police commissioner is in theory outside this triangle of attorney general-state prosecutor-Aham commander but if he so chooses (and if he isn’t obstructed by a strong Aham commander) he can bring influence to bear through his power to make appointments, dismantle and assemble units, and demand updates. The power of the police commissioner and the attorney general versus the investigators is particularly great during the transition between two Aham commanders.

The balance of power during discussions of the quality of evidence and the strength of the witnesses and the decision about whether to file charges in sensitive cases, depends on the personal and professional status of those filling these positions, as well as their character. The polite get stepped on. A police officer who accepts a decision submissively and nods weakly is swept aside with prosecutorial arrogance.

Like in Military Intelligence, the police collect evidence and the prosecution analyzes it; the attorney general is parallel to the MI chief. Resources are limited, so the MI chief has the right to decide to invest more – satellites, sources, analysts – in Sinai and less in China, or more in Lebanon at Libya’s expense. But he cannot warn those who handle agents who are about to meet their man in Damascus, against leading him in a direction that won’t please the top brass – as in “don’t ask stupid questions so we don’t get incriminating answers.”

Mendelblit, however, personally exerts pressure on Bar-Nur and his commanders, intervenes in the micro-details of the Netanyahu case, and in practice has appropriated the role of chief of the investigating team for himself. The police could challenge his authority to do this, but the detectives merely whisper resentfully to each other; each has his own reason to remain silent. The major generals at Aham and Lahav 433 are tired, tamed, or on their way out, and the brigadier generals, who want to finally break the glass ceiling at Yaha, are not named Siegel, Mizrahi, or Yoav Segelovich.