Likud Knesset member Ariel Sharon called for the establishment of an emergency government — which he would head — to put an end to the wave of terror engulfing Israel.
In a hard-hitting article published in Monday’s Jerusalem Post, Sharon attacked virtually everyone in military and political circles in past and present governments.
“The confused statements we hear from ministers and senior commanders lead to one conclusion only: there is no leadership — neither political, nor military,” Sharon wrote.
The Israel Defense Force “in Judea, Samaria and Gaza is signaling weakness, impotence and lack of order,” he added.
“The IDF has definitely lost its power of deterrence in the Gaza Strip.”
He offered a solution to the crisis: “Let me carry out a policy that has already proven successful against terror,” he wrote.
Those who still maintain that his own successes in crushing terrorism in the Gaza Strip were relevant to what was happening there 20 years ago, but that things are quite different now, are wrong, Sharon continued.
“So it is my right and obligation today to ask all those responsible for the present situation Having failed in all you have undertaken, what stops you from letting me carry out what has already been proven in the war on terror, within the framework of the law and government directives?
“I do not say this lightly but take upon myself a heavy responsibility.
“We need to take an urgent, short-term step: the establishment of an emergency government of experts for a specified, limited period with the declared aim of smashing terror, to enable a confrontation between the various his-torical, ideological and political streams of thought — away from the threat of the Arab daggers dripping blood.
“I am ready to take on this task, for I know how to perform it.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
