This is tragic news because Ron is one of the precious few remaining officials in Israel who is not afraid to say things as he sees them - as they are. Last year, at a time when Ehud Barak was busy hatching his plot to divest Israel of its history and identity, Ron sounded ominous warnings about the Israeli Arab community in the Galilee, a community that was preparing to launch a vicious assault against Israel. Ron's warnings were that incitement by clergy and community leaders among the Arabs of the north were leading to an increased threat of violence, and that that violence could spill over to a nationwide uprising by Arabs against Jews.
At the time, Alik Ron was skewered in the media and ostracized by the government for his statements. He was branded a racist by the Arabs and their lackey Jews on the Israeli left. And his warnings were disregarded.
In October, that explosion took place during a week of rioting that left 13 Arabs and one Jew dead. It was the preparedness of Ron's forces that enabled the Israel police to quell the rioting without further loss of life.
Still, no one bothered to apologize to Ron, or to admit that in the final analysis, he was right. Instead, the Barak government was pressured into naming an official judicial commission of inquiry headed by a Supreme Court justice, and whose hearings take place in the Supreme Court itself. Arabs who were involved in the rioting have been invited to testify, and various bodies in the Arab community have helped in coordinating the testimony of these witnesses. Very early on, the hearings were turned into a festival of hate and vitriol directed against Alik Ron.
Alik Ron has now become a martyr of Israel's self-hate. It is a self-hate that permeates Israeli politics from root to tip and crosses virtually all party lines.
When Arabs attack Jews in Israel, regardless of the nominal nationality of those Arabs, the almost certain result is that Israeli politicians will view Israel as the culprit. A week of Arab riots in October has resulted in nine months of judicial inquiry against the police rather than punishment being meted out against the rioters. Nine months of Arab murder and mayhem against Israelis throughout the country has resulted in an Israeli cease-fire rather than a full-scale military response to end the violence.
Ehud Barak was guilty of a grievous non-response to the violence, and he was sent into political oblivion by the Israeli electorate. Ariel Sharon is almost as guilty as Barak, and he is in danger of being sent the same way if he doesn't change his ways. This is understandable as, ultimately, the voter is the final arbiter of national policy.
But Alik Ron was different. Alik Ron stood up for law and order. Alik Ron said and did what needed to be said and done. Alik Ron ended the violence in his precinct in a week while two successive prime ministers have been unable to do the same in nine long months. But while the oblivion being experienced by Barak, and the oblivion to which Sharon is heading are justified, Alik Ron's ouster from his position is nothing short of a lynching at the hands of a political apparatus that just cannot abide being told that it is wrong.
Alik Ron is now a symbol. He represents what Israel should aspire to become: a State where protection of Jewish interests is the foremost priority, even at the expense of international acceptance. Alas, he also represents what Israel is: a place where such priorities are the farthest thing from fact.
Copyright 2001. Yehuda Poch is a writer living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
