Last update - 01:58 08/01/2008
Gaydamak tells supporters to drop anti-Bush demonstration
By Lily Galili
Billionaire politician Arcadi Gaydamak has instructed his supporters in Sderot to call off a planned protest in Jerusalem against U.S. President George W. Bush during his upcoming visit to Israel. The instruction comes at the request of a senior American official.
In a phone call from the American Embassy to Gaydamak's bureau, the official said that such a demonstration would embarrass the president. Gaydamak told Haaretz that Bush's visit attested to the president's "earnest wishes to resolve the extremely problematic situation in the Middle East."
Gaydamak said he had been informed that Sderot residents would protest to "attract [Bush's] attention to the extremely difficult situation they have been forced to live under." He added: "I myself have taken an initiative to dissuade the citizens of Sderot from organizing such a demonstration, so as not to disturb the visit and the important work laid out for President Bush during his stay in Israel."