In his new book on his father Ariel Sharon’s life, Gilad Sharon calls current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “coward” and a “subversive.”
His attack on Netanyahu came in the context of discussing his father’s effort to push his Gaza disengagement plan through the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in 2004. Gilad discussed how Netanyahu and several other members of Sharon’s cabinet tried to make the effort more difficult.
“Netanyahu, who had helped draft the plan and voted in favor of it in the cabinet meeting … suddenly added a condition: they called for a national referendum, without which they would not support the plan,” he wrote in “Sharon: The Life of a Leader.”
To push this new condition, Gilad writes, Netanyahu demanded an “urgent” meeting with his father before the vote. Ariel Sharon refused.
Netanyahu ultimately voted in favor of the plan at the vote, but the move irked Gilad.
“This was a true manifestation of Netanyahu’s character,” Gilad writes. “Not only was he subversive, but he was also a coward,” he added, presumably calling Netanyahu a coward for not standing by his threat to vote against the measure.
Netanyahu would ultimately resign in protest from Sharon’s cabinet in 2005 before the cabinet formerly authorized the first faze of the Gaza withdrawal. Ariel Sharon suffered a debilitating stroke at the beginning of 2006 which forced him out of the prime minister’s office.
In an interview with The Daily Caller, Gilad seemed none too enthused to discuss that passage of his book.
“Well, you know, I bring the facts as they are,” Gilad said when asked if his father viewed Netanyahu similarly. “I am sure Netanyahu is doing his best,” he added, before transitioning to discuss his father’s diplomatic efforts.
When pressed again to discuss how his father’s relationship was with Netanyahu, Gilad exclaimed, “My father appointed him minister in his government!”
Asked once more whether his father thought highly of Netanyahu, Gilad again seemed reluctant to delve further into the topic.
“I think I described quite clearly their relations,” he said, before adding, “you know, Netanyahu is doing his best, I’m sure, and my father did what he did.”
See more of TheDC’s interview with Gilad Sharon Thursday.