It often comes as a surprise to people outside Israel how much support Ariel Sharon’s government – widely perceived as extremist or far-right – has from Israelis. But then, those of us in the Diaspora don’t have to live under the constant threat of terror that Israelis do.
By the same token, it may surprise some casual observers of Mideast politics that the Israeli op-eds are filled these days with calls for Sharon to resign… over the Elhanan Tannenbaum scandal, which has been receiving front-page coverage in Israel and barely any mention abroad.
Sharon is looking more and more corrupt by the day. Some Israelis are starting to get fed up. What will transpire will remain to be seen. But it’s just a reminder of how different the issues and the political landscape look to Israelis than they do to those of us following the news from abroad.
But theres no one else. Netanyahoo seems unwilling to compromise for peace and Mitzna wants to give the whole country away.
It’s amazing how the Israeli media generates public opinion. Remember when Netanyahu was in power, they strived at every oppurtunity to make his and his families life a living hell – and succeeded. Later, they realized that they had gone overboard, but they didn’t really care since the objective was achieved.
The popular saying in the Likud is that ‘we voted for Sharon, but got Mitzna’.
What it comes down to is that the Palestinian Arabs fought their independance war, and our Sharon has decided to retreat under fire. Israelis are fed up because they voted for Sharon to be strong and win this war, not to retreat with our tail between the legs, agree to the cursed ‘road map’ (which basically acknowledges that Jews do not care for their land), and lower the price of DVD players rather than the price of bread.
Sharon is not any more corrupt than most politicians in Israel or Canada, but the press will kill him before you find out.