Police Chief Shlomo Aharonishki arrived at the Northern District Police headquarters this morning to lift the spirits of his men, following the release of the Ohr Commission's report yesterday. He said that many police feel that they "were abandoned on the battlefield." Aharonishki said he intends to "support those officers whose advancement will be checked or who will be fired. It is my obligation to back my officers who endangered their lives and blocked [the rioters] with their bodies. They have many accomplishments and many years of taking personal responsibility."
The report was very critical of the police performance during the Israeli-Arab riots of October 2000, using terms such as "culture of whitewashing and lying," "disregard of orders," and "lack of preparedness and reaching conclusions."
The commission found that then-Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami did not ensure proper police readiness for such riots, and is not fit to serve again as Public Security Minister - a position he did not want in the first place. Then-Police Chief Yehuda Wilk should not serve again in any senior police capacities, the commission found, as he did not anticipate the events and did not report to his superiors on the use of police snipers, among other faults. Other police officers were found to be unfit to serve in the police or worthy of being demoted, and the commission recommended that criminal investigations be instituted against several of them. Such investigations have already begun, although Justice Minister Tommy Lapid poured cold water on chances that a probe into three-year-old cases would come up with much.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Arab MKs Azmi Bishara and Abdel Malik Dehamshe were sharply criticized, but as opposed to Ben-Ami, the fact that they were elected in popular elections stood them in good stead and the committee did not recommend that they be prevented from serving in their positions. Barak "did not fulfill his duties as Prime Minister," the Committee found - yet it did not rule out his serving as Prime Minister in the future. The Arabs MKs "contributed concretely to fanning the flames and intensifying the violence" - yet they may continue to serve as Knesset Members.
Former Police Chief Assaf Heifetz was critical of the committee's findings, especially its recommendation not to use rubber bullets: "It's impossible to fulfill this. What should a policeman do when his life is endangered? When hundreds of people attack him with rocks, a policeman need not wait until they kill him; he fires rubber bullets." In sum, he said that the committee "disappointed me. It did not deal with the question of how a democratic state should deal with widespread rioting. Everyone knows that such events are liable to repeat themselves, even with live ammunition. This must be taken into account; we have to ask ourselves what do we do then."
Only 1.5 pages of the 831-page report dealt with the death of the only Jew murdered in the Israeli-Arab riots, Jean Bechor, 54. Bechor was killed as he was driving on the Coastal Road Expressway between Haifa and Tel Aviv when a large stone block crashed into his car. The block hit him in the chest and killed him as the car passed by the Israeli-Arab village Jisr a-Zarka on what is perhaps Israel's most traveled highway. Five Israeli Arabs, residents of Jisr a-Zarka, were indicted 18 days later, on Oct. 26, 2000, for the attack.
Transportation Minister Avigdor Lieberman (National Union) told Arutz-7's Haggai Seri today, "The committee achieved the opposite of what we would have wanted. It managed to scare all the low-level policemen working in the field, who will be afraid to take any action without a lawyer by their side... The political echelons escaped with no operative recommendations against them, but the police who have to deal face-to-face with the problems in the field are the ones who came out the big losers. The committee avoided the real question regarding the wild incitement on the eve of the riots and did not specify what should be done with those who incited, and who are truly responsible for the riots."
The report was very critical of the police performance during the Israeli-Arab riots of October 2000, using terms such as "culture of whitewashing and lying," "disregard of orders," and "lack of preparedness and reaching conclusions."
The commission found that then-Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami did not ensure proper police readiness for such riots, and is not fit to serve again as Public Security Minister - a position he did not want in the first place. Then-Police Chief Yehuda Wilk should not serve again in any senior police capacities, the commission found, as he did not anticipate the events and did not report to his superiors on the use of police snipers, among other faults. Other police officers were found to be unfit to serve in the police or worthy of being demoted, and the commission recommended that criminal investigations be instituted against several of them. Such investigations have already begun, although Justice Minister Tommy Lapid poured cold water on chances that a probe into three-year-old cases would come up with much.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Arab MKs Azmi Bishara and Abdel Malik Dehamshe were sharply criticized, but as opposed to Ben-Ami, the fact that they were elected in popular elections stood them in good stead and the committee did not recommend that they be prevented from serving in their positions. Barak "did not fulfill his duties as Prime Minister," the Committee found - yet it did not rule out his serving as Prime Minister in the future. The Arabs MKs "contributed concretely to fanning the flames and intensifying the violence" - yet they may continue to serve as Knesset Members.
Former Police Chief Assaf Heifetz was critical of the committee's findings, especially its recommendation not to use rubber bullets: "It's impossible to fulfill this. What should a policeman do when his life is endangered? When hundreds of people attack him with rocks, a policeman need not wait until they kill him; he fires rubber bullets." In sum, he said that the committee "disappointed me. It did not deal with the question of how a democratic state should deal with widespread rioting. Everyone knows that such events are liable to repeat themselves, even with live ammunition. This must be taken into account; we have to ask ourselves what do we do then."
Only 1.5 pages of the 831-page report dealt with the death of the only Jew murdered in the Israeli-Arab riots, Jean Bechor, 54. Bechor was killed as he was driving on the Coastal Road Expressway between Haifa and Tel Aviv when a large stone block crashed into his car. The block hit him in the chest and killed him as the car passed by the Israeli-Arab village Jisr a-Zarka on what is perhaps Israel's most traveled highway. Five Israeli Arabs, residents of Jisr a-Zarka, were indicted 18 days later, on Oct. 26, 2000, for the attack.
Transportation Minister Avigdor Lieberman (National Union) told Arutz-7's Haggai Seri today, "The committee achieved the opposite of what we would have wanted. It managed to scare all the low-level policemen working in the field, who will be afraid to take any action without a lawyer by their side... The political echelons escaped with no operative recommendations against them, but the police who have to deal face-to-face with the problems in the field are the ones who came out the big losers. The committee avoided the real question regarding the wild incitement on the eve of the riots and did not specify what should be done with those who incited, and who are truly responsible for the riots."