For some 26 years Chaim Ramon was a common site in Knesset, working his way up from MK to deputy minister and minister, holding a senior cabinet post on a number of occasions. At the height of his career, he was close to prime ministers and was an extremely influential lawmaker.

Seeking to enhance his political future, Ramon, a former Laborite, made the move to Kadima when Ariel Sharon announced he was forming the party, but his success was short lived. Surviving a criminal trial for his detestable actions, Ramon bounced back but he failed to earn a realistic seat on the Kadima roster in the last general election, most likely a compelling motive towards his decision to official leave the Knesset.

The special press conference to announce his retirement received national media coverage but for those loyal to a torah way of life. For them, there is no loss but perhaps reason for celebration.

Ramon has generally been seen on the wrong side of the vote for mosdos torah, as well as an ardent supporter of the so-called security barrier, the ghetto fence that today surrounds so many areas of Eretz Yisrael as he and his supporters build their Oslo Fence towards actualizing their vision of a new Middle East. The Oslo process, now 16-years-old, has indeed brought a new Middle East, one with increased terror and existential threats for the Jewish State.

Ramon was an outspoken foe of yishuvim and the vision of a Greater Eretz Yisrael, and perhaps symbolized the secular assimilated western vision of a torah-free Zionist state. 
Ramon was also a major architect and supporter of the 2005 Disengagement Plan, the expulsion of Jews from Gaza and northern Shomron.

Ramon will continue to serve in a senior post in the Kadima Party as he “takes a break from political life” as he put it.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)