In many ways, Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh's Feb. 7 interview with journalist Ilana Dayan was a watershed in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s investigation saga. In the volatile public and political atmosphere, just days before the police release their recommendations regarding their investigations, the interview played right into Netanyahu’s hands.

It is not clear what lay behind Alsheikh’s decision to open up before Dayan’s camera about the Netanyahu investigations and make insinuations like, “People will be surprised.” These comments by Israel’s top cop were pointless as the final consultations over the Netanyahu files are almost over. Yet those comments were the least of the problems with the interview.

Looking straight into the camera, Alsheikh accused the prime minister of Israel of hiring private investigators to collect incriminating evidence against the people responsible for investigating him. The police commissioner did not name Netanyahu explicitly, speaking instead of “powerful" elements. Nevertheless, it was obvious who he meant. Alsheikh also stressed that he was talking about facts, not rumors. Many top journalists have been invited to meet with Alsheikh over the past year and heard a similar story from him. Now the police commissioner took it up a notch by saying it directly to the cameras, just before he hands his recommendations over to the attorney general’s office.

The police commissioner’s expressions throughout the interview conveyed that he wanted to say more but couldn’t. Together with his comments, they provided a mesmerizing if surreal dimension to the story. After all, it's not every day that the commissioner sits down before cameras to insinuate that the prime minister is trying to interfere with his own investigation.