Excerpts;
“‘A bus is on the way from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” begins a story told by retired major general Israel Tal. “After Sha’ar Hagai, when the ascent begins, the driver stops the bus, turns around and says, ‘I can’t drive anymore, maybe there’s someone here who can continue until Jerusalem?’ Fifty passengers fall silent, look at one another, afraid to take responsibility. A bus is big and heavy and there are turns and cliffs, and 50 people have to get home safely. It’s complicated. But the moment a prime minister says ‘I can’t go on anymore,’ 50 people are candidates to replace him – because it’s only the premiership, you don’t need any special knowledge or skills, we’ll muddle through.'”
“After the suicide of Avraham Ofer, the Labor housing minister, in 1977, the attorney general at the time, Aharon Barak (who authorized the police to investigate Ofer’s possible involvement in corrupt practices) said the obvious: Ofer, who was not tried and not convicted, died innocent. Sharon arrived at Hadassah Hospital as a suspect – innocent but a suspect – and he did not bother to do his best to dispel the suspicion, which will accompany him for all time, even after the last of the police files about him is closed.”
“The draft indictment prepared by former state attorney (now Supreme Court Justice) Edna Arbel will always be remembered; she asserted that when Sharon served as foreign minister and as national infrastructure minister ‘he took bribes for activity connected to the fulfillment of his office.’ Sharon’s political partner at the time, Yosef Lapid, who was then justice minister, brought about the appointment as attorney general of Menachem Mazuz, who tore Arbel’s draft to shreds. But the conviction of Omri Sharon, the prime minister’s son in the election funding case made clear an abiding fact: Sharon’s victory over Ehud Olmert and Meir Sheetrit in the contest for head of the Likud in 1999 was achieved under conditions of inequality.”
“What will remain of Sharon? Not much. His party-under-construction, which recalls the nonsensical remark made by President Ronald Reagan in seeking to reassure people about a possible mistaken launching of a nuclear war. It is true, Reagan said, that the nuclear missiles in the U.S. submarines are ready to be launched instantly in case of a warning about a Soviet attack, but if it turns out to be a false alarm it won’t be terrible – the missiles will turn back to the subs in mid-flight, like a cartoon run in reverse. The missiles that were fired from the Likud and from Labor and hooked up with Kadima in mid-air will now try to return to the submarines.”