Former Northern District Police Commander Alik Ron completed two days of long-awaited testimony before the Orr Commission investigating last October's riots in the Galilee in which 13 Israeli Arabs were killed by police bullets. Ron defended his controversial decision to use snipers using live ammunition against rioters attacking Israeli motorists and destroying private and public property. He accused the government of former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and former Internal Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami in particular, of abandoning him and his men for political reasons after their attempts to quell the rioting.

Israeli Arabs dismissed Ron's testimony as an attempt to escape personal responsibility for the deaths. Courtroom visits and supportive statements by Israeli political figures and fellow officers triggered a new storm of controversy and criticism.

Ron told commission members Supreme Court Justice

"Like thunder on a clear day." - Former Northern District Police Commander Alik Ron on the outbreak of Israeli Arab riots

Theodore Orr, Nazareth District Court president Jarakh Sahal (an Israeli Arab), and former ambassador to Egypt and Jordan Shimon Shamir, that he had no viable alternative to using snipers. "I would have preferred to use 7,000 police reinforcements in protective gear, but these were unavailable," Ron said. The former police commander admitted that he did not consult with his superiors -- Police Inspector General Yehuda Wilk and Ben-Ami -- before making the decision.

Ron told the commission that the October riots and some of the police reactions should not be detached from the general atmosphere of the time. "There was a feeling that the north was burning," he said. Ron stated that he had only authorized police to open fire on two occasions, in Umm el-Fahm and in Lotem, and was only informed later that live ammunition had been used in other areas.

Justice Orr questioned Ron's judgment in this matter, especially in failing to consult with his superiors. What, Orr asked, was the objective of the sharpshooters? Ron responded that the initial objective was to protect human life, especially the lives of the civilians who travel on the roads. He said he brought in sharpshooters only after a woman motorist was injured as a result of Arab violence on the main Hadera-Afula artery -- the Wadi Ara road -- and the lives of other motorists appeared to be at risk.

Ron spoke of his strained relationships with the political echelons after the riots. He said he felt deep anguish over the fact that "the government abandoned me and my men along the side of the road that we went out to defend." He added, "Shlomo Ben Ami saw me as a contagious disease that no one should come into contact with."

Ron admitted an intelligence failure prior to the riots - neither the police nor the General Security Service had any advance warning. "The truth is that it occurred like thunder on a clear day," Ron said of the outbreak of violence. Ron told the commission that if the police had had any idea of what was coming, they would have brought 2,000 reinforcements into the Northern District.

"I was the first to see what was happening and to request new laws and reinforcements," Ron claimed. He repeatedly stressed that the police did not have sufficient non-lethal equipment at its disposal, and attributed this to a lack of funding. Ron claimed that he had not only issued warnings but also offered solutions, which were ignored.

"I am not sure anybody knew what was to come - not even those who incited the violence," he said. "We never expected such rioting. It was like an apocalyptic dream." Ron said that while the timing of the riots was unexpected, "they could have been anticipated for years."

Israeli Arabs hold Ron personally responsible for October deaths
On the street outside the courtroom, families of Arabs who died in October stood opposite a group who had come to support Ron. In response to slogans shouted by the Arabs, Ron's supporters, many of them old comrades from the IDF General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, waved Israeli flags and played the unit's anthem.

Israeli Arabs accuse Ron of personal responsibility for the October deaths. "Ron is undergoing distress," claimed Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi (Ta-al). "He is trying to blame everybody, except for himself. He blames the government, his superior officers and those who served under him, but he was responsible for the killing of 13 citizens."

"Ron did not tell the truth," claimed Israeli Islamic Movement leader, Sheikh Raid Salah. "He avoided answering questions and tried to justify his racist policies against Arabs." Shawki Hatib, chairman of the Israeli Arab leadership's monitoring committee says "[Ron] hated the Arab population from the moment he took up his post as commander of the northern region, if not before then."

Arutz-7 reported that while commission members consistently referred to the Arabs involved in the riots as "citizens," Ron called them "rioters." Ron added that Israeli Arab leaders "poisonously incited their people for years against the state and blocked all attempts at dialogue."

Ron's testimony, which was broadcast live on Israeli radio and television, took place before the specially-constructed glass partition in Jerusalem's Supreme Court building, scene of emotional and occasionally violent confrontations between police officers and the family members of victims during previous testimonies. Ron said he views the Orr Commission as a "slap in the face" for the police, although he fully accepts its authority. In his words, "the establishment of the commission was a surrender by the leaders of the previous government to a public that they needed in the elections," an implicit reference to the Labor-led government's dependence on the Arab vote.

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