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Maariv and Sharon

After Maariv repeatedly bashed Prime Minister Sharon and charged him with overpaying for the release of Elhanan Tennenbaum because of business ties to Tennenbaum's former father-in-law, the newspaper's chairman responded with an unusual op-ed supporting Sharon.

Here are excerpts of the column by the chairman, Yaakov Nimrodi:

The current Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, was my commander in the army and is a personal friend. Despite everything written in Maariv, and other media outlets, I trust him completely and believe that he is an honest, upright man, unsullied by the smallest speck of corruption...

I am affronted by the attempt to make a connection between past relationships and the critical decisions that the Prime Minster must make about the fate, character and security of the State of Israel... Moreover, I vehemently disagree with the attempt to portray the Prime Minister’s decisions about the prisoner exchange as dependent on this relationship. I believe totally that the Prime Minister’s considerations in the case were pure and completely free of extraneous factors; that he acted solely in good faith and on a firm, palpable evaluation that the exchange was an essential, important thing to do for the security of the state, in accordance with its Jewish and humanitarian values.

I am neither a journalist nor a commentator. As publisher, I do not interfere with the articles written by Maariv’s reporters and commentators. However, the publisher also has the right to express his opinion. My firm opinion is that there was no reason to accuse Ariel Sharon of scheming and pressing for approval of the prisoner exchange deal because of some old, convoluted relationship with Tennenbaum’s former father-in-law.
posted on 3/10/2004