By Ryan Jones
Sep 15, 2005
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was the darling of New York Wednesday for his successful expulsion of 10,000 Jews from their homes, but all was not well on the home front as the threat of early elections loomed ever closer.
At the United Nations' 60th anniversary summit, heads of state, including those from Israel's self-proclaimed Muslim enemies, lined up to shake Sharon's hand and hold both scheduled and ?chance? encounters with the man responsible for the first Jewish surrender of the Land of Israel in history.
Sharon was the ?star? of the event, one aide told the Israeli press.
Back in Israel, his Likud Party colleagues were not impressed.
?The world always loves Israeli leaders when they fold up in the face of international pressures,? said MK David Levy.
Arutz 7 quoted Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin as saying Sharon's first-class treatment was the result of toeing the international community's secular liberal line, which negates Israel's biblical right to its land.
Prime ministerial candidate Binyamin Netanyahu blasted Sharon for having ?traded territory for red carpets.?
Despite his red carpet welcome, Israel Radio reported Sharon was by no means enjoying himself in New York, and was phoning Israel at least twice a day to check with Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on the situation within the Likud.
Sharon's speech to the General Assembly Thursday night, which will be delivered in Hebrew, is said to be directed primarily at his his party's central committee in an effort to stave off early primaries.
Most central committee members are furious with Sharon for trampling the Likud's core platform with his Gaza-Samaria pullout.
Sharon, however, insists the move won Israel unprecedented diplomatic rewards, evidenced by his warm reception at the UN. He will be looking to drive home that point.