Israel's police commander resigned after a government commission said he ignored ties between senior officers and underworld figures, just the latest scandal to befall Israel's beleaguered leadership in recent months.
On Sunday, commission chairman Vardi Zeiler, a retired judge, said the police commander, Moshe Karadi, should be fired for the incomplete investigation of the murder and for ignoring ties between senior police officers and top organized crime figures. Karadi was not police commissioner at the time of the killing, but a departmental head.
The commission was formed to examine whether police properly closed the case of the murder, in which a rogue police officer confessed to shooting a suspected crime boss hospitalized under police guard after an assassination attempt.
The officer, who said he operated at the behest of a well-known Israeli crime family, was later murdered in Mexico, allegedly by members of the crime family angered by his confession. The case was later closed after police concluded there was not enough evidence.
Zeiler warned that elements of the corruption case showed symptoms of organized crime entering Israel's police force, though he noted the charges had to be proved.
Karadi insisted that the allegations against him were untrue, but said he was resigning to "set a personal example" and spare the police the harm of a scandal.
Karadi was a top official in southern Israel at the time of the 1999 killing, and the commission rebuked him for promoting a police commander suspected in hushing up the case on behalf of the crime family that allegedly hired the murdered officer.
Just two hours after Karadi resigned, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter announced that the new police commander would be Yaakov Ganot, commander of the prisons service.
Scandals and resignation have plagued Israel's leaders in recent months. Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz recently resigned as the military chief of staff after coming under withering criticism for the flawed war against Lebanese guerrillas. President Moshe Katsav, now on a leave of absence, faces allegations of rape, sexual assault and abuse of power.
Former justice minister Haim Ramon was recently convicted in a separate sexual misconduct case, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is accused of improprieties in a string of real estate deals.
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