The latest chapter in what may be a police-media-Labor Party plot to defeat the Likud was revealed today - but the electronic media are not emphasizing it. The item did not even appear on Voice of Israel's 8 AM news broadcast, for instance, and was barely discussed in the news-talk shows afterwards.
The report, appearing this morning in Yediot Acharonot, states that some two weeks ago, Labor Party Secretary-General MK Ophir Pines hinted strongly to several Likud supporters that damaging information about Ariel Sharon would soon be publicized. He was right, of course, as the police investigation of Sharon and his sons regarding the loan from Cyril Kern was leaked to the newspapers last week.
Education Minister Limor Livnat said this morning that this shows that Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein was correct when he talked about the political motives of those who leaked the story. Pines, in his own defense, said that he merely talked of his "gut feeling" that Sharon would have to step down from the Prime Ministerial race, and that the source of the leak must be sought elsewhere.
The report stated that Oded Shamir, director of a Jerusalem-based company, said that he was meeting with the Prime Minister's bureau director, Dov Weisglass, two weeks ago, when Pines approached them and hinted that revelations of corruption involving Sharon and his sons would soon be revealed. Pines' exact quote, according to Yediot Acharonot: "We will cause Sharon to resign on the backdrop of his sons' corruption. Sharon will be forced to resign even before the elections, and his sons will go to jail."
Shamir has filed a complaint with the Attorney-General, asking that MK Pines be a subject of the investigation into how it happened that the police investigation was leaked to the press.
The report, appearing this morning in Yediot Acharonot, states that some two weeks ago, Labor Party Secretary-General MK Ophir Pines hinted strongly to several Likud supporters that damaging information about Ariel Sharon would soon be publicized. He was right, of course, as the police investigation of Sharon and his sons regarding the loan from Cyril Kern was leaked to the newspapers last week.
Education Minister Limor Livnat said this morning that this shows that Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein was correct when he talked about the political motives of those who leaked the story. Pines, in his own defense, said that he merely talked of his "gut feeling" that Sharon would have to step down from the Prime Ministerial race, and that the source of the leak must be sought elsewhere.
The report stated that Oded Shamir, director of a Jerusalem-based company, said that he was meeting with the Prime Minister's bureau director, Dov Weisglass, two weeks ago, when Pines approached them and hinted that revelations of corruption involving Sharon and his sons would soon be revealed. Pines' exact quote, according to Yediot Acharonot: "We will cause Sharon to resign on the backdrop of his sons' corruption. Sharon will be forced to resign even before the elections, and his sons will go to jail."
Shamir has filed a complaint with the Attorney-General, asking that MK Pines be a subject of the investigation into how it happened that the police investigation was leaked to the press.