Israeli minister tried to frame colleague

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to fire one of his Cabinet ministers after television uncovered a scandal in which a minister is heard in a taped conversation planning to frame a fellow minister.

Dramatic two-year-old tapes were broadcast on Israel Channel One TV, showing Cabinet minister Joseph Paritzky detailing his plans to frame fellow Shinui party member and Cabinet minister Avraham Poraz.

The tapes were followed by a live TV apology by Paritzky, and reports that Sharon had accepted a demand by Shinui party leader, Justice Minister Yosef Lapid, that Paritzky be fired.

The scandal – the latest in a long series of criminal and political intrigues that have rocked Sharon’s shaky coalition – was described by Israel’s media as one of the most incredible revelations in the political establishment in years.

Lapid confirmed in an interview with Israel’s Army Radio that Sharon had agreed to fire Paritzky at Sunday’s Cabinet meeting. Israeli media reported that Paritzky is expected to resign.

Another member of the secular-rights Shinui party is expected to replace Paritzky – preserving Sharon’s shaky coalition.

But the scandal strikes at a time when Sharon is fighting for political survival, attacked by traditional hardline supporters who oppose his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

In the tapes, Paritzky is heard telling a private investigator: “I have thought of throwing Poraz in the garbage, framing him. Poraz has to be politically annihilated.”

Later, Paritzky is heard asking the private investigator to pretend he is an importer of used cars.

The plan Paritzky had was to have the supposed used car dealer approach one of Poraz’s associates and then have her press Poraz to push through legislation favourable to used car importers.

The idea was to make it look like Poraz had been bribed.