Gilad Sharon was also ordered by the Supreme Court to hand over documents relating to the Greek case, as well as information concerning an alleged infringement of election finance regulations in 1999 and 2000. He and another of Sharon's sons are said to have used a $1.5m loan from South African-based British businessman Cyril Kern to pay for overspending during his father’s leadership election campaign. Sharon senior is fighting hard to deflect attention away from these alleged misdemeanours, particularly as many Likud members and government coalition partners would like to see his political downfall. They are vigorously opposed to his alleged "unilateral disengagement plan" to withdraw IOF forces from the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2005. On Tuesday evening, Sharon agreed to hold a poll of Likud members on the alleged withdrawal plan, scheduled for mid-April, just days after he returns from a visit to meet with fellow war criminal George Bush in Washington. But his confidence in winning a majority of Likud “moderates” stands in marked contrast to his support of a Knesset bill intended to ensure that a special majority is needed on any decision to remove settlements. This makes it harder for him to achieve a Knesset majority for the alleged evacuation of Gaza. So with Sharon under pressure from both his own and other political parties over the corruption allegations and Gaza withdrawal, he has tried to deflect attention by doing what he excels at – committing war crimes. Hannah Kim wrote in Haaretz: “The first attempt on the life of Sheikh Yassin, which failed, came after the publication of David Spector's recordings of the prime minister's two sons on September 4 and 5, 2003 in the mass circulation daily Yedioth Ahronoth. In them (Likud MK – Knesset Member) Omri Sharon related that contrary to what his father had told the State Comptroller, his father had indeed travelled abroad to raise funds ("He collects money ... I need receipts ... It's necessary to speak quietly"). And furthermore, Gilad Sharon spoke about how he was trying to get money out of contractor David Appel even though the "Greek island" project, on which he served as a consultant, looked unrealistic ("Astonishing in size, unfathomable. One hundred thousand rooms. Totally unrealistic."). The night after the publication of the latter recording, on Saturday, September 6, the Israel Defense Forces tried to assassinate Sheikh Yassin. The attempt was unsuccessful. The second attempt, early this Monday, prevented Sharon from failing in a no-confidence vote in the Knesset, two days before the Knesset broke for its long recess.” So between Yassin, corruption and settlements, what does Sharon’s behaviour indicate? He announces an alleged "unilateral disengagement plan" from Gaza, yet votes in the Knesset to make it less likely. Twice he has been willing to assassinate a senior Hamas leader to deflect attention away from his own misdemeanours during difficult periods of domestic politics; twice he has been willing to commit yet more war crimes; and twice he has been willing to endanger his own population by aggressing and escalating the conflict. Some advice for Attorney General Menachem Mazuz – indict Sharon on the corruption charges if there’s a case to answer, but not before indicting him for the war crimes of Sabra and Shatila, and many others before and since. Some advice for members of the Likud Party – support the alleged "unilateral disengagement plan" from Gaza, and if there’s a box for the number of illegal settlements to remove from the West Bank, please tick “all of them”, and not the insult of just four, five or six from a total of nearly 200 that has been proposed. And some advice for Gilad Sharon – attain some reputable financing and please build the Greek island tourism project, plus three others just like it, but without wrecking the environment. That’s 400,000 rooms, one for every illegal settler in the West Bank and Gaza. Adapted from
various Haaretz Articles, including http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/408945.html |