Police chief must go
Just like Halutz, Police Commissioner Karadi is part of cover-up culture and must go
Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter must not wait even one moment: Police Chief Moshe Karadi must go, at once. It is possible that the considerations that led to his appointment were completely honest – which is completely unthinkable, if we recall that during those days every appointment of this type had to be approved by Ariel Sharon's "Ranch forum" of close associates. Yet now it is clear that Karadi is unfit to head the police.
Just like outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, Moshe Karadi would have never found himself at the top of the pyramid unless he agreed to implement the plan to uproot thousands of families and place them at intersections. It is a pity that we sobered up so late – but better late than never.
Halutz did not wait for the Winograd Commission's conclusions; Karadi, on the other hand, conveyed artificial optimism until the last moment. It is possible that he is a friendly man with quite a few friends – but this is not what this country needs at this time.
What is much more bothersome, and many did not need Zeiler or Winograd to find out about this, is the subculture of lies, cover-ups, and half-truths that has accompanied the IDF and police for many years now. Halutz and Karadi were a part of it. There is not even one person that has not suffered from these false reports, be it a civilian caught in the jaws of the monster known as "the law enforcement establishment" or anyone who served in the IDF.
The outgoing army chief grew in this reality, where cover-ups were part of a longtime norm, and therefore he was able to provide the government with false reports on the eve of the war and through it, while preventing other officers from disagreeing with him.
And this is precisely what is happening in the police. If we read between the lines of the Zeiler Commission report, we realize that Karadi did not invent a thing. Ties with criminals do not only characterize, of course, the Southern District. The laziness, clumsiness, lies, and cronyism are an almost built-in feature of the police, which is tasked, on behalf of all of us, with protecting us from law-breakers.
Too many of those who serve in the police got there completely by coincidence; some of them may have not even passed the "admission tests" on the other side, of the criminals themselves.
But all of this does not matter anymore. Avi Dichter can be the man who changes our lives for the better. The question is only whether as someone who grew up in the Shin Bet he is able to shake off the subculture of lies, and tampering with evidence, and failure to tell the truth, and cover-ups that has accompanied the police and IDF for many years.
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