Moshe Karadi has closed the door on his two-year career as Israel’s Police Commissioner one year after the police force was ordered to expel Jewish demonstrators who tried to prevent the destruction of nine structures that were part of a neighborhood expansion in the Samaria Jewish community of Amona.

 

Karadi announced his resignation in February, forced to leave after allegations of mismanagement and poor judgment in a variety of cases. He stepped down last week with the swearing in of former Central District police commander David Cohen as his replacement.

 

Karadi’s legacy also includes his participation a year and a half ago in the operation to expel Jews from their homes in northern Samaria and Gush Katif as part of the 2005 Disengagement. Thousands of police officers joined IDF soldiers and other security forces in the painful operation. He views the Amona operation, however, as the biggest failure of his career.

 

Thousands of police officers and IDF soldiers battled the thousands of Jews who gathered to defend the empty structures during the operation.

 

At least 200 demonstrators were wounded by police in riot gear -- some severely -- including two Knesset members. The violent clashes were marked by mounted police officers who galloped into the crowd, trampling some demonstrators. Other officers, none wearing identification badges, swung their batons to beat the demonstrators.

 

The police officers also suffered in the debacle, with 80 reported injured, including one with a severe head wound.

 

Karadi said in an interview with the Jerusalem Post that "in retrospect, the evacuation of Amona should have been carried out differently, and... police could have taken steps to reduce the tension at the scene."

 

"I think that both from an operational perspective, as well as from the perspective of maintaining dialogue... we could have managed things differently, and this is a lesson that we should learn," Karadi said, adding that "the results of the evacuation demand that we do soul-searching, both for us and for the local leadership."

 

He added that the results of the Amona operation "were not good for anyone - not for us the police, not for the people of Israel and not for the State of Israel."