Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, not normally known for seeking out microphones, again made headlines today with a media interview - this time with Yediot Acharonot. The full interview will be published only tomorrow, in the paper's holiday eve edition, but previews have been reported by the paper's internet site, Ynet. Breaking with Israel's tradition of keeping a low profile against enemies that have been targeted by the U.S. - Iraq, and now Syria - the Prime Minister said,
"[Syrian dictator] Bashar Assad is dangerous. His judgment is faulty. He proved, during the Iraq war, that he does not have the ability to come to conclusions from clear and open data. Everyone with eyes in his head could have known that Iraq would be on the losing side - but Assad assumed that it would be the U.S. who would lose. He may make the same misjudgment regarding Israel['s capabilities]; he has a force that is subordinate to him - Hizbullah - and therefore it's dangerous."
Prime Minister Sharon accused Syria of giving refuge to Saddam Hussein loyalists and of sheltering Iraqi equipment before the war. The Israeli leader prompted some American analysts to advise him to "tone down his rhetoric" by calling on the U.S. to exert heavy diplomatic and economic pressure on Syria. Sharon wants the U.S. to get Syria to stop harboring terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, end its cooperation with Iranian terrorist efforts, and replace Hizbullah with the Lebanese Army along the Lebanese-Israeli border.
American Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday that Syria had carried out chemical weapons test in the past year or so, while White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that the U.S. now considers Syria a "rogue state." This is a term heretofore reserved for countries such as Libya, North Korea, and Iran.
Sharon also "clarified" his statements of the day before in which he expressed a begrudging willingness to give away Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. He explained that he did not mean that specifically Beit El and Shilo would be dismantled, but rather that Israel would be required to make painful concessions in places with which the Jewish nation has deep historical bonds. He expressed confidence that he would be able to pass the "painful concessions" program in the Knesset.
In the wake of the Prime Minister's intentions, the Yesha Council - representing the Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza - plans to host Likud Knesset Members on tours throughout Yesha in the coming weeks. The Yesha Knesset lobby will also be reinstated, headed by Sharon-confidante MK Yechiel Chazan of Ariel.
"[Syrian dictator] Bashar Assad is dangerous. His judgment is faulty. He proved, during the Iraq war, that he does not have the ability to come to conclusions from clear and open data. Everyone with eyes in his head could have known that Iraq would be on the losing side - but Assad assumed that it would be the U.S. who would lose. He may make the same misjudgment regarding Israel['s capabilities]; he has a force that is subordinate to him - Hizbullah - and therefore it's dangerous."
Prime Minister Sharon accused Syria of giving refuge to Saddam Hussein loyalists and of sheltering Iraqi equipment before the war. The Israeli leader prompted some American analysts to advise him to "tone down his rhetoric" by calling on the U.S. to exert heavy diplomatic and economic pressure on Syria. Sharon wants the U.S. to get Syria to stop harboring terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, end its cooperation with Iranian terrorist efforts, and replace Hizbullah with the Lebanese Army along the Lebanese-Israeli border.
American Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday that Syria had carried out chemical weapons test in the past year or so, while White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that the U.S. now considers Syria a "rogue state." This is a term heretofore reserved for countries such as Libya, North Korea, and Iran.
Sharon also "clarified" his statements of the day before in which he expressed a begrudging willingness to give away Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. He explained that he did not mean that specifically Beit El and Shilo would be dismantled, but rather that Israel would be required to make painful concessions in places with which the Jewish nation has deep historical bonds. He expressed confidence that he would be able to pass the "painful concessions" program in the Knesset.
In the wake of the Prime Minister's intentions, the Yesha Council - representing the Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza - plans to host Likud Knesset Members on tours throughout Yesha in the coming weeks. The Yesha Knesset lobby will also be reinstated, headed by Sharon-confidante MK Yechiel Chazan of Ariel.