Item: Sharon is in the midst of a career-ending scandal when he is struck down by a life-threatening blood clot in his brain.

Item: A live Sharon will have to face prosecution for the Kern-Schlaff bribes, even in Israel's thoroughly corrupt legal system. A dead Sharon will not have to face prosecution. And that would be just fine for the creme de la creme of the country's political leadership.

Item: The prognosis is a living, or real, death.

The First Stroke

Dec. 19 Prime Minister Sharon shares drinks with Shimon Peres in the Knesset. Within half an hour, Sharon is driven to hospital unconscious. It took him a day before he could even spell his own name. He was brought into the hospital by his bodyguard, Yoram Rubin. As a good chunk of Israel knows today, it was the Peres-Rubin team that murdered Yitzhak Rabin. When Rubin was shown on television news accompanying Sharon's stretcher, suspicions spread throughout the country.

For two days, Sharon remained in hospital where he underwent intensive tests. We may ask, how did they miss the blood clot that struck Sharon barely two weeks later?

The timing of Sharon's latest stroke is uncanny. It occurred one day after he was implicated in an enormous scandal.

Recently, police have revealed the possibility that Kern served as a front man for Martin Schlaff, a known friend of Sharon's and an Austrian-Jewish businessman heavily invested in Israel, and that he was the man who stood behind the “loan” in order to receive favors from the prime minister in the form of reopening the casino he owns in Jericho.

From www.inn.com Jan. 4/05

POLICE : EVIDENCE

Police Say There´s Evidence Linking Sharon to $3 Million Bribe

CHANNEL TEN REPORTING

The police say they know of evidence linking PM Ariel Sharon to the receipt of a $3 million bribe. So reported Channel Ten tonight, causing a storm of reaction and calls for Sharon to resign.

CYRIL KERN & MARTIN SLEEP

The investigation of the money trail to Sharon has been underway for over three years, and in fact was first publicized before the last national election, in 2003. The case is known as the Cyril Kern affair, named for the South African friend of Sharon who served as a conduit for the money. The source of the cash, however, has long been suspected to be Austrian millionaire and Jericho casino owner Martin Schlaf. The police say the money was used partially to help Sharon pay back campaign contributions that he had received illegally in 1999, and partly for the Sharon family's private use.

SCHLAF'S PARENTS LIVING IN ISRAEL

Because of the suspicions hanging over him, Schlaf has refrained from visiting Israel of late. His brother James, however, came for a visit two weeks ago - and the police jumped at the opportunity. They raided his parents' home in Israel, and confiscated documents and two laptop computers. However, the police were not permitted to extricate the information on the computers without James' permission - which he refused to give.

SCHLAF'S BROTHER JAMES : SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOUR

Schlaf's behavior aroused the suspicion of the police, which turned urgently to the courts and said that the computer files will show that the $3 million was in fact passed as a bribe to Ariel Sharon or his sons. The police therefore say that it is imperative for them to be allowed to enter the computers in order to extricate vital evidence in the Kern-Sharon affair.

James Schlaf, aware of the developments, has since given his permission for the police to peruse his computer files.

Schlaf's lawyer Atty. Navot Tel-Tzur said there was actually nothing new in the case "except for the fact that there is a laptop computer involved." He expressed anger at the leak.

END OF SHARON'S POLITICAL CAREER MK

Roman Bronfman (Meretz): "If the police have evidence of Sharon's corruption, he must end his political career."

STROKE TWO

Dec. 21 - James Schlaff flies to Israel. He is immediately investigated by the police.

Jan. 3 - The police investigation is leaked to Channel 10 television reporter Baruch Kra.

Jan. 4 - Sharon is in the midst of a career-ending scandal until the late evening when he is struck down by a life-threatening blood clot in his brain.
Tonight, in Vienna, some of the heroes of this affair

, and of the next one, will meet at the huge bat-mitzvah celebration of Martin Schlaff's granddaughter. Dov Weisglass, Schlaff's old friend and lawyer will be there. Haim Ramon, another close friend, will also attend. There will be many others. Some of them from amongst the political, social, and economic elite of Israel. Avigdor Lieberman, for example. No one is embarrassed by it. Some are even proud of it. In another time, another place, one could consider it collusion, coordinating testimonies. After all, Schlaff's name has recently been tied in to that other affair: “the Cyril Kern affair”. Schlaff, in case you've forgotten, is one of the owners of the casino in Jericho.
A live Sharon will have to face prosecution for the Kern-Schlaff bribes, even in Israel's thoroughly corrupt legal system. A dead Sharon will not have to face prosecution. And that would be just fine for the creme de la creme of the country's political leadership.

The first impression is that Sharon survived the first attempt on his life. In reaction, James Schlaff immediately flew to Israel with evidence to bring the prime minister down in scandal. Somehow, the police were tipped off and immediately confiscated the evidence. Once the investigation was done, the results were leaked to the media. On the day of the second stroke, the scandal spread fast, threatening to engulf many of the country's political elite in deep corruption. By 11 PM, Sharon was bleeding heavily from the throat and his prognosis was a living or real death.