Ariel Sharon turned 80.
Relatives of the stricken former prime minister held a small ceremony Tuesday by his bedside at Tel Hashomer hospital. Sharon suffered a stroke more than two years and went into a coma that is likely irreversible.
The meeting was said to have been especially gloomy for the family as one of Sharon’s two sons, Omri, on Wednesday will begin a seven-month prison sentence for violating election-funding laws.
A former lawmaker, Omri Sharon was convicted of illicitly bankrolling his father’s successful run to become head of the Likud Party.
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.