-Caveat Lector- Contempt Overwhelms Israel Campaign By RON KAMPEAS .c The Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) -- Deep into a sleepy campaign that has lacked substantive issues, Israel's political parties have finally found common ground: mutual contempt. ``Liars,'' ``forgers'' and ``haters'' are the least of the accusations bandied about this week in a heated campaign that is unprecedented in its acrimony -- and may make it increasingly harder for Israelis to live together after the ballots have been cast. ``A little respect, some basic manners,'' cautioned an editorial in Maariv on Thursday. ``Does anyone remember the meaning of those expressions?'' It started on Sunday when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- sliding in the polls toward May 17 elections -- heard that a Barak supporter described Likud backers ``who work in the market'' as ``riffraff.'' The reference appeared aimed at Sephardic Jews of Middle Eastern background who have backed Likud candidates by a 3-1 margin. Netanyahu seized the occasion and made an unannounced stop Monday in a Tel Aviv market. Amid a crush of supporters, Netanyahu told supporters that leftists ``hate the people. They hate the Sephardim, the Ethiopians ... the Russians -- everyone.'' Barak, who condemned the remarks by actress Tiki Dayan, said he would resist attempts by Netanyahu to drag the country into a ``civil war.'' Netanyahu would not back down, and his Likud party ads doctored a video to make it appear as if Barak had laughed at Dayan's comments after she spoke at a Labor party rally. Longtime campaign watchers said the level of invective was unprecedented. ``The word `hatred' has been used massively in this campaign by Netanyahu,'' Hebrew University political scientist Yaron Ezrahi said Thursday. ``It has fanned fires ... in a multiethnic society.'' It wasn't just Netanyahu. Shas, an ultra-Orthodox Sephardic party under siege after leader Arieh Deri was convicted last month on bribe-taking charges, lashed out at the ``elites'' it said framed Deri. One campaign broadcast features a street scene of small town Sephardi Jews saying they ``can't stand'' Ashkenazis, or Jews of European background. ``I wouldn't speak to you if you were Ashkenazi,'' one man yelled into the camera. Another Shas campaign commercial featured elderly Ashkenazi Jews dozing off during a symphony concert and focused on one woman chewing with her mouth open. ``They call this culture,'' a narrator repeated again and again. The party reserved its most venomous rhetoric for Israel B'Aliya, a party of Jews from the former Soviet Union campaigning to wrest the Interior Ministry from Shas. In a radio advertisement, Interior Minister Eli Suissa said Israel B'Aliya was seeking unchecked immigration from Russia and former Soviet republics -- and pledged to keep ``the forgers, cheats, the call-girls and others from entering the state of Israel with dignity.'' Under pressure from Netanyahu, Suissa apologized for the statement on Thursday. ``If my words hurt someone, I apologize, I never intended to offend anyone,'' he said. Emigres from Russia and former Soviet republics -- about 14 percent of the electorate -- are a crucial voting bloc, and Netanyahu seized on a discrepancy between the Hebrew and Russian versions of Barak's biography this week. The Russian-language version quoted Barak as saying that east Jerusalem was ``Arab land.'' Netanyahu -- who, like Barak, has pledged never to divide the disputed city -- accused Barak of ``political censorship'' for leaving the quotation out of the Hebrew edition. The Labor party said the translation was sabotaged; the translator, the writer and the publisher of the book all swore that the quotation was never in the original. Likud spokeswoman Tsippi Livni said they were all ``liars.'' Ezrahi, the political analyst, said the low level of rhetoric was the result of virtual agreement between the major parties on the major issue that once distinguished them: territorial compromise with the Arabs. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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