'Lack of evidence' in Sharon case

[CShine]

Israeli investigators think there may not be enough evidence to charge Prime Minister Ariel Sharon over a bribery scandal, Israeli TV has reported.
The TV station said it was quoting an interim report from a panel appointed by the Attorney General Menachem Mazuz.

A final decision on whether to prosecute is up to Mr Mazuz.

The allegations relate to business deals said to involve the Sharon family. Ariel Sharon denies all the allegations against him.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3668041.stm

[dArKeR]

1. Lack of evidence closes Sharon case

By Dan Williams

Jerusalem - Israel's attorney-general has decided not to indict Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on bribery charges, Israeli television said on Sunday, signalling the end of a scandal overshadowing his landmark Gaza pullback plan.

Israeli officials were not available for comment on the news report that Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz had closed the case due to lack of evidence against Sharon. Mazuz is expected to issue his formal decision some time this week.

Indictment would likely force Sharon from office and derail his strategy of "disengagement" from the Palestinians, which the cabinet approved in principle last week in a vote that enraged his pro-settler partners and triggered a coalition crisis.

http://iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&art_id=vn20040614102353157C969235&set_id=1

Doesn't this guy have a sex drive? Can't we get him on kissing an intern?

[geek tragedy]

2. How about

screwing an entire nation of people?

[Aussie_Hillbilly]

3. Good!

I want that crook to remain free and the leader of the Likud. Unchallenged corruption in high places will undermine confidence in Likud rule, and discredit its ideology.

Fascism always self-destructs eventually. Look at Milosevic. The Israeli Right is creating the same kind of dysfunctional third-world kleptocracy they rightly deplore in neighbouring Muslim regimes. Corruption will erode another layer of his support, and force him to play the state terror card more aggressively. Xenophobia and prejudice have been very useful political tools in Ariel Sharon's hands, but each time they are used his base gets a little narrower and Israel loses a little more of the first-world ideals that make it work.

So much suffering to go. I wish there was some way Israelis could end this play before it reaches its inevitable conclusion. :shrug:

I fear only when Israel becomes as poor and corrupt as Tanzania will it decide to make a just peace.

[Gimel]

4. Interesting contradiction

Xenophobia and prejudice have been very useful political tools in Ariel Sharon's hands, but each time they are used his base gets a little narrower and Israel loses a little more of the first-world ideals that make it work.

You say on the one hand that first-world ideals make Israel work, and on the other that Israel is losing support. It doesn't seem that way to me.

Israel has gained significant international support since Sharon announced his disengagement plan. Seems to me that that is something you should also support. The way out of this mess.

[Aussie_Hillbilly]

5. First world ideals.

Equality before the law. Democracy. Transparency. Freedom of speech. Distinction between the office and the office-holder. Rational-legal authority, in Weberian terms.

The early Zionists brought Western first-world ideals with them from Europe, while the Arabs were still living in third-world traditional societies.

Those ideals have encouraged the growth of civil society in Israel, and as in other Western cultures, are the source of its economic and social cohesion. Those ideals appear to be rotting away. The High Court is defied by the IDF, the PM takes bribes and gets away with it etc. etc.

Its not just the Likud party's fault. Continual warfare and apartheid are bleak soil for Western values to take root in.

You say on the one hand that first-world ideals make Israel work, and on the other that Israel is losing support. It doesn't seem that way to me.

I hope that makes things clearer for you.

I do support the disengagement plan, assuming it is genuine and leads to a just peace. I (and every sane person I would think) would like nothing more than an end to the conflict.

[Gimel]

6. Western ideals

the source of its economic and social cohesion

Seeing that the US culture is essentially falling apart, as is every other industrialized nation, this is debatable.

The source of Israel's cohesion is what is symbolized by the Mogen David that you use for your icon, i.e., Jewish identity and history.

I continue to read reports of economic cooperation, sales contracts with France, India and Turkey, as well as China, and Israel. I hope that this clarifies things for you.

[Aussie_Hillbilly]

7. We seem to have different ideas about society.

The source of Israel's cohesion is what is symbolized by the Mogen David that you use for your icon, i.e., Jewish identity and history.

North Korea has a strong culture and identity. So does Serbia. A strong sense of identity is an admirable thing, but by itself it is not enough.

When morality and the rule of law are disregarded and fear rules alone, no society can remain undamaged. With no confidence in the rule of law, there can be no surety for investors, and soon no investment, few jobs and little money. When the role model is the obedient soldier rather than the scientist or the teacher, innovation grinds to a halt. When politics is based on fear of the "other", diversity becomes the enemy and anything different is suspect. Rot sets in long before the tree falls.

In the 1950's and 60's Israel's combination of Western ideals and Jewish community values was admired across the West. Can you still say this?

Israel is becoming a reflection of its enemies. I wish it weren't so, but perhaps it is for the best.

Seeing that the US culture is essentially falling apart, as is every other industrialized nation, this is debatable.

LOL. The Soviets kept saying that for 70 years. Remind me whose society withered on the vine? The Afrikaners vowed apartheid would last forever, but where are they now? The West is not falling apart. The West will still be here when Likud-ism joins Apartheid in the dustbin of history.

[Gimel]

8. "Israel is becoming a reflection of its enemies"

Since when is the Likud the whole of Israeli society? In fact it is a minority and becoming more so. Israeli society will long outlast the present Likud, even if that party retains it's name.

A strong sense of identity is an admirable thing, but by itself it is not enough.

Of course not. It is the nature and depth of the identity that brings out not only character but the moral values it embodies. Korean identity is strong, by all reports, as is Serbia, apparently. However, the US identity is to a political and economic entity, not a culture, as was the USSR.