The three prime ministers form a trio of scandals

By Mohammed Zeyada, IOL Correspondent

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, August 29 (IslamOnline.net) – The last week of August went tough for three Prime Ministers of Israel – each plunged into his own scandal.

Israeli daily Maariv put it as the week of cracks into the houses of former Premiers Perez and Ehud Barak, in addition to incumbent Ariel Sharon.

For Shimon Peres, the family's celebration of his 80th birthday went awry upon a knock of the door.

Investigations into the theft of a motorcycle in one of the Jewish settlements on Sunday, August 24 led to two perpetrators – one of them turned out to be Peres' grandson.

"We made sure the motorcycle was stolen by Peres' grandson and his friend,"  a senior police officer was quoted by Maariv as saying.

Bad luck enough for Peres, who had also took over the foreign minister post in the first term of Sharon's government, the family was notified by the arrest while gathering for his birthday.

Divorce

The former Prime Minister Ehud Barak was up for declaring his divorce after 34 years marriage of Nava the same week.

The divorce of the season has triggered a wave of comments - mostly sarcastic.

"If Barak thinks he had taken the right decision after 34 years, what about his key political decisions, which of course were taken in much shorter time," said one Israeli citizen in comment.

The divorce opened the door for Israeli media outlets to lick old wounds, reminding audience of a history of crises plaguing the marital life of Barak when he was in office.

Navada's rows with – and bad treatment of - her maids had been a fertile ground for many many stories in the press.

The divorce – Maariv said – was far beyond just a personal issue, "as it is related to a husband once wholly responsible for the country".

Bribes

The third cracked house was that of Sharon, as allegations of financial wrongdoings are still haunting him along with his two sons.

Ha’aretz newspaper said it had new documents disclosing the involvement of Sharon and his two sons Gilad and Omri in getting bribery in what has become the Cyril Kern case.

Israel asked the Austrian authorities to conduct a formal inquiry into the source of funds transferred to Sharon's family across an Austrian bank few years ago, said the English-language Israeli daily.

The request reveals that the transferred money was used to pay back a loan from  the family's South African friend Cyril Kern, and was used by Sharon for his 1999 campaign for leadership of the Likud party, said the paper.

This loan was taken to comply with a demand made by the State Comptroller for the Sharons to return donations that were raised overseas for the purposes of Sharon's campaign in a Likud election, and which exceeded the legal ceiling.

 Sharon chose to repay the contributions rather than pay a large fine. To do so, his older son Gilead, borrowed $1.5.million (U.S.) from Cyril Kern, a long-time family friend, said Ha’aretz.

According to Israeli law, the Prime Minister has to step down if indicted.

In 1976, to avoid an indictment, then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin stepped down over his wife's illegal foreign-bank account.

In 2000, president Ezer Weizmann resigned over an unreported loan to avoid an indictment.