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CNN Live At Daybreak
Prime Minister Sharon Finds Himself in Political Dogfight
Aired January 10, 2003 - 05:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Just three weeks before Israel's general election, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon finds himself in a political dog fight. He's under attack by political opponents who accuse Mr. Sharon's sons of having skirted Israel's campaign finance laws.
CNN's Kelly Wallace has the story live from Jerusalem -- good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, something extraordinary and apparently unprecedented happened here last night. The Israeli prime minister called a news conference to do some damage control after this corruption scandal has really sent support for his Likud Party plummeting. But then the head of Israel's election committee ordered television stations and radio stations to stop airing the prime minister's comments, accusing Mr. Sharon of violating campaign rules.
So then we saw on Israel's television stations Los Angeles night about 10 minutes into the Sharon news conference announcements that they have been ordered to stop airing the prime minister's comments.
Now, Mr. Sharon started off with many attacks against his main opponent, Amram Mitzna, the head of the Labor Party, accusing the Labor Party of spreading rumors about him to try and bring him and his Labor or Likud Party down.
Well, this is something that has upset the Likud Party. They have called for a meeting Saturday night here to discuss the matter. The Labor Party, for its part, though, is calling for equal time or calling for the Likud Party to be penalized for this.
Now, this is really overshadowing what Sharon's original goal was, and that was to try to put to rest questions about a loan, a $1.5 million loan that came from a friend in South Africa that went to Sharon's sons and was apparently used to retire some illegal campaign contributions from a campaign back in 1999. The prime minister offered few details, but he said he knew nothing about the loan. He also said he and his sons did nothing wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: There's no bribe. There's no thought. There's nothing. Anyone who wants, can have the documents and see for themselves instead of blowing this up into political dramas. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Carol, now the key question is whether Mr. Sharon's verbal offensive will work, whether it will stop the sharp drop-off in support for his Likud Party or whether it will continue it -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You know, Kelly, you've got to wonder how this will all affect the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
WALLACE: Well, that is a key question. Right now what people will be looking at will be to see the upcoming polls to see exactly if Likud continues to lose support. Right now the prime minister remains the most popular politician, really, in Israel. But if he continues to lose more and more support, he could end up still winning, but having a very narrow majority. And that might mean he'll have to reach out to centrists and leftist parties, and that could really mean a big difference. He might have to eventually be forced, then, to take a different, maybe even a softer line when it comes to dealing with the Palestinian issue -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Something that's apparently been difficult for him to do.
Thank you.
Kelly Wallace reporting live from Jerusalem this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 10, 2003 - 05:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Just three weeks before Israel's general election, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon finds himself in a political dog fight. He's under attack by political opponents who accuse Mr. Sharon's sons of having skirted Israel's campaign finance laws.
CNN's Kelly Wallace has the story live from Jerusalem -- good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, something extraordinary and apparently unprecedented happened here last night. The Israeli prime minister called a news conference to do some damage control after this corruption scandal has really sent support for his Likud Party plummeting. But then the head of Israel's election committee ordered television stations and radio stations to stop airing the prime minister's comments, accusing Mr. Sharon of violating campaign rules.
So then we saw on Israel's television stations Los Angeles night about 10 minutes into the Sharon news conference announcements that they have been ordered to stop airing the prime minister's comments.
Now, Mr. Sharon started off with many attacks against his main opponent, Amram Mitzna, the head of the Labor Party, accusing the Labor Party of spreading rumors about him to try and bring him and his Labor or Likud Party down.
Well, this is something that has upset the Likud Party. They have called for a meeting Saturday night here to discuss the matter. The Labor Party, for its part, though, is calling for equal time or calling for the Likud Party to be penalized for this.
Now, this is really overshadowing what Sharon's original goal was, and that was to try to put to rest questions about a loan, a $1.5 million loan that came from a friend in South Africa that went to Sharon's sons and was apparently used to retire some illegal campaign contributions from a campaign back in 1999. The prime minister offered few details, but he said he knew nothing about the loan. He also said he and his sons did nothing wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: There's no bribe. There's no thought. There's nothing. Anyone who wants, can have the documents and see for themselves instead of blowing this up into political dramas. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Carol, now the key question is whether Mr. Sharon's verbal offensive will work, whether it will stop the sharp drop-off in support for his Likud Party or whether it will continue it -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You know, Kelly, you've got to wonder how this will all affect the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
WALLACE: Well, that is a key question. Right now what people will be looking at will be to see the upcoming polls to see exactly if Likud continues to lose support. Right now the prime minister remains the most popular politician, really, in Israel. But if he continues to lose more and more support, he could end up still winning, but having a very narrow majority. And that might mean he'll have to reach out to centrists and leftist parties, and that could really mean a big difference. He might have to eventually be forced, then, to take a different, maybe even a softer line when it comes to dealing with the Palestinian issue -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Something that's apparently been difficult for him to do.
Thank you.
Kelly Wallace reporting live from Jerusalem this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
