and his associates, and a
board of directors — half of
them representing the Avneri
group, the other half represen-
ting the Genger group — was
formed. It was as though a
business and political partner
of Senator Jesse Helms or Pat
Robertson were to purchase a
half interest in The Nation,
say, or Mother Jones.
Avneri insists that the paper
maintains its "political in-
dependence." One concession
to his new partners, however,
is a four-page section called
"Another Opinion," in which
an assortment of right wing
columnists propagate their
views. There's another change:
the old political-warrior style
has been supplanted by a
kinder, gentler treatment of
Sharon and the right.
Few observers doubt that
Sharon and Genger, despite
the latter's insistence that he
is interested in the media for
purely business reasons, hope
at some point to turn Ha'olam
Ha'zeh into an organ on which
they can play their own
political tune. What an irony,
wrote Hedah Boshes, a colum-
nist for Ha'aretz, "Genger and
Sharon are penetrating and
taking hold of the print media
through Ha'olam Ha'zeh, their
archenemy."
But Genger — and, presum-
ably, Sharon — was not con-
tent with this relatively minor
incursion into the media. The
The
next target was
Jerusalem Post, Israel's only
English-language daily and
the one most frequently
quoted in foreign publications,
a matter of considerable im-
portance to Sharon, who is
very sensitive to his image
abroad.
Founded in 1932 by Gershon
Agronsky, an American-
Jewish journalist and Zionist
activist, the paper was for
many years little more than a
mouthpiece for the Zionist
leadership and, later, for a suc-
cession of Labor-led gov-
ernments. Conceived of as a
means of influencing opinion
in London, until 1948 when
Israel achieved independence,
and later in Washington, the
paper was edited by high-
ranking officials and even
news stories had to be ap-
proved by the foreign ministry
or the prime minister's office.
The paper, which is owned
by a subsidiary of the Labor-
controlled Histadrut, gained
political independence after
1977, when Labor moved to
the opposition benches. Under
the editorial direction of Ari
Rath and Erwin Frankel, the
Post adopted a dovish, liberal
position, one that was in-
variably critical of Likud's
policies.
While its circulation within

pim irokOmis

sidewha
saie

Thursday, January 11 -
Sunday, January 14

Were taking what's inside

our stores out in to the halls for

the largest sidewalk sale around.

We're also turning

prices upside down so you can

wander about without running

out of places to save.

NO THUM

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

23

