A widespread impression that the main issues facing Israeli society have been shunted aside in the current election campaign was strengthened this morning as two more side-stories broke into the media reports. Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson noted that the following list appears to comprise the main campaign issues of Israel's 2003 elections:
a. A loan by a South African businessman to Prime Minister Sharon.
b. Police wiretapping of the Prime Minister and other Likud officials.
c. Labor Party leader Amram Mitzna's relations with Haifa building contractors such as two New York brothers who were convicted of financial misdeeds.
d. The question of whether Naomi Blumental rented a hotel suite for Likud Central Committee members, and other Likud primaries suspicions.
e. Labor Party forgeries and irregularities in its primaries.
f. Labor and Shinui pre-election promises to join or not to join a national unity government led by Sharon.
g. The Oslo War and the diplomatic process.
h. Poverty and social issues.
One of the latest issues was revealed last night when Lior Horev, an advisor to Prime Minister Sharon, said he had filed a police complaint regarding what he called "a campaign of eavesdropping, wiretapping, and physical tracking waged against us [the Likud] since the beginning of the week." He said that it began when he obtained an important videocassette featuring a former police detective explaining that Police Investigations Unit Chief Moshe Mizrachi had carried out illegal wiretappings on many right-wing politicians. Horev said that a copy of the tape was stolen from a lawyer's office just before he was to pick it up, and that shortly after he obtained another copy of the tape, two cars followed him all the way from Tel Aviv to Ashdod.
The tape shows Stanislav Yazemski, who had once worked under Mizrachi, explaining that among Mizrachi's wiretapping subjects were Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Avigdor Lieberman and his family, National Union MK Eliezer Cohen, and associates of former Shas leader Aryeh Deri. The Police Department has been investigating Mizrachi on these issues for over four months.
Horev claimed that his police complaint was not connected with the elections, and that he "only hopes that none of the politicians sitting beside me tonight are living under the threat of blackmail." Despite this, Labor Party Secretary-General Ophir Pines charged that the Likud was trying to "manipulate the media" to divert public attention from Labor's accusations against Sharon and his sons. Even leading Likud officials, such as Justice Minister Meir Shetreet, said that the issue is not an important one and that the party has "full confidence" in the police.
In another story, Labor Party leader Amram Mitzna has once again been linked to Haifa contractors who contributed to the special "Haifa Fund," chaired by Mitzna. The latest accusations say that two brothers in New York, who bought land in Haifa, and who were sentenced to jail in 1998, donated hundreds of thousands of shekels to the Haifa Fund, and in return Mitzna allowed them to triple the size of their building project. Mitzna says he does not know of the men or their contributions.
Arutz-7 reported almost three weeks ago on allegations by Aviad Visuly to the effect that a construction company granted Mitzna office space, and in exchange, Mitzna presented a request to the Haifa Planning and Construction Board, which he chairs, asking that the company be granted the right to build one or two extra floors on its construction project.
a. A loan by a South African businessman to Prime Minister Sharon.
b. Police wiretapping of the Prime Minister and other Likud officials.
c. Labor Party leader Amram Mitzna's relations with Haifa building contractors such as two New York brothers who were convicted of financial misdeeds.
d. The question of whether Naomi Blumental rented a hotel suite for Likud Central Committee members, and other Likud primaries suspicions.
e. Labor Party forgeries and irregularities in its primaries.
f. Labor and Shinui pre-election promises to join or not to join a national unity government led by Sharon.
g. The Oslo War and the diplomatic process.
h. Poverty and social issues.
One of the latest issues was revealed last night when Lior Horev, an advisor to Prime Minister Sharon, said he had filed a police complaint regarding what he called "a campaign of eavesdropping, wiretapping, and physical tracking waged against us [the Likud] since the beginning of the week." He said that it began when he obtained an important videocassette featuring a former police detective explaining that Police Investigations Unit Chief Moshe Mizrachi had carried out illegal wiretappings on many right-wing politicians. Horev said that a copy of the tape was stolen from a lawyer's office just before he was to pick it up, and that shortly after he obtained another copy of the tape, two cars followed him all the way from Tel Aviv to Ashdod.
The tape shows Stanislav Yazemski, who had once worked under Mizrachi, explaining that among Mizrachi's wiretapping subjects were Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Avigdor Lieberman and his family, National Union MK Eliezer Cohen, and associates of former Shas leader Aryeh Deri. The Police Department has been investigating Mizrachi on these issues for over four months.
Horev claimed that his police complaint was not connected with the elections, and that he "only hopes that none of the politicians sitting beside me tonight are living under the threat of blackmail." Despite this, Labor Party Secretary-General Ophir Pines charged that the Likud was trying to "manipulate the media" to divert public attention from Labor's accusations against Sharon and his sons. Even leading Likud officials, such as Justice Minister Meir Shetreet, said that the issue is not an important one and that the party has "full confidence" in the police.
In another story, Labor Party leader Amram Mitzna has once again been linked to Haifa contractors who contributed to the special "Haifa Fund," chaired by Mitzna. The latest accusations say that two brothers in New York, who bought land in Haifa, and who were sentenced to jail in 1998, donated hundreds of thousands of shekels to the Haifa Fund, and in return Mitzna allowed them to triple the size of their building project. Mitzna says he does not know of the men or their contributions.
Arutz-7 reported almost three weeks ago on allegations by Aviad Visuly to the effect that a construction company granted Mitzna office space, and in exchange, Mitzna presented a request to the Haifa Planning and Construction Board, which he chairs, asking that the company be granted the right to build one or two extra floors on its construction project.