[GushShalomPress] Sharon lashes out again against Gush Shalom

[Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)]

GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - http://www.gush-shalom.org/

Press release

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Sharon attacks Gush Shalom in Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) radio address
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In his New Year interview on the radio, Sharon once more lashed out against Gush 
Shalom. Seemingly as a spontaneous answer to a spontaneous question the PM 
came up with a long quote of the ancient historian Josephus Flavius about how the 
Romans nearly 2000 years  ago defeated the Jews "who were fighting among 
themselves".  All this was intended to show the Israeli public how evil and abject is 
Gush Shalom for having sent warning letters to officers of the Israeli army, officers who 
had openly boasted about acts which constitute violations of the Geneva Conventions. 
By telling the officers that what they themselves had told the media might be used as 
evidence in court - an Israeli court or an international court - the Gush Shalom activists 
earned already twice in the past months a furious outburst of the PM, who demanded 
of the Attorney General to probe Gush Shalom for it - not to mention a widely 
publicized attack by Israeli Air Force commander Dan Halutz and sundry broadsides 
by various ministers, Knesset Members and 
columnists. 
This week, the Attorney General came however to the conclusion that there was no reason to 
prosecute Gush Shalom. Thereupon, the Minister of Justice announced that he would take 
legislative measures to bring the Gush Shalom activists to trial anyway. On the following day the 
Attorney General told him that there was no need: Gush Shalom members could after all be put on 
trial within the present legislation.

The newest chapter in this war of nerves: PM Ariel Sharon decided to carry on his personal hate 
campaign against Gush Shalom. Former Knesset member and Gush Shalom leder Uri avnery 
commented: "Israelis remember very well what was the  result of that earlier hate campaign - 
against Rabin - in which Sharon played quite a central role."

In the same radio interview, Sharon also said that he did not feel a sense of failure as a result o
f 
the increasing terror, the economic crisis and the diminished prospects for peace during his 
tenure. "It was indeed a difficult year, but I think that we must also look back on the 
achievements," he said. "First, we established a national unity government, which is no small 
feat. On the terror front, we waged war against terror and the Palestinian Authority, which tried 
to break us. We didn't break, but stood fast. The battle is not yet over." 
The question rises: Is the PM planning a further escalation, involving measures which might get 
him and his military officers in trouble with the new Hague War Crimes Court? Could that be 
why he wants Gush Shalom out of his way? 
For more information: 
Adam Keller, spokesperson  +972-3-5565804 / +972-56-709603 / +972-56-709604