-Caveat Lector- [EMAIL PROTECTED] spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.
To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Sharon draws slim hope from polls as revelations continue Chris McGreal in Jerusalem Monday January 13 2003 The Guardian Ariel Sharon drew slight comfort from a new round of opinion polls yesterday that showed his dramatically curtailed television broadcast last week had stemmed the flow of votes from his party ahead of this month's general election. But the polls revealed that most of the Israeli public did not believe his denials over illegal campaign contributions and other financial shenanigans. In addition, Binyamin Netanyahu, the foreign minister, would be a more popular choice as the ruling Likud party's candidate for prime minister in the 28 January ballot. To add to Mr Sharon's woes, the dribble of revelations over his financial relationship with an old war comrade who now lives in South Africa continued yesterday, with claims that the prime minister lied when he said Cyril Kern had no business dealings in Israel. The newspaper Ma'ariv alleged that not only did Mr Kern try to sell diamonds and a gold refinery to Israeli businessmen, but the name of Mr Sharon's son, Gilad, occurs in the correspondence involved. Yesterday, in response to an earlier request from Israel's attorney general, South Africa said it would investigate Mr Kern's $1.5m (£930,000) loan to Mr Sharon. Two polls in the Israeli press show the Likud-led rightwing and religious bloc in the 120- seat knesset hanging on to its majority by five or six seats. Before Mr Sharon went on television to deny that the loan was an illegal campaign contribution, and to deny that he had lied to police over its source, the polls had shown the Likud-led bloc close to losing control of the government, with a majority of just three. But by itself, Mr Sharon's party is still down by about 10 seats on polls a month ago, and his personal standing has taken a battering. Before his television broadcast, Mr Sharon promised to "disprove with documents and facts" the "despicable lies" being told. But he did neither, and so may have squandered his single greatest asset - trust. Some 65% of Israelis who saw last Wednesday's broadcast - before it was halted by a judge for breaching election laws - were not convinced by Mr Sharon's statement that he was telling the truth. However, the opposition Labour party again failed to capitalise on events and fell in the polls by a couple of seats. Perhaps most worrying for Mr Sharon is that another poll in the Ma'ariv newspaper showed that if Mr Netanyahu were Likud's leader, he would boost the party's vote by 10%. An analysis in Ma'ariv said some voters had given the benefit of the doubt to Mr Sharon, being "more furious with the 'hostile' media and the 'harassing' judicial system than they were shocked by the accusations". But the paper says Likud could see the slide resume if there were more revelations. And there are. In his broadcast, Mr Sharon said that Mr Kern "never asked me for anything and never received anything. He does not have business here." Ma'ariv reported yesterday that Mr Kern was regularly in contact with Israeli businessmen, and tried to sell Sierra Leonean diamonds and three gold refineries in South Africa. The correspondence involved is copied to Gilad Sharon. It also noted that Mr Kern had met businessmen in Tel Aviv hotels during visits to Israel at which Gilad Sharon was present. More at guardian.co.uk/israel Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
