Place of birth Lodz, Poland Role Businessman Name Shmuel Flatto-Sharon | 1977–1981 Development and Peace Year of aliyah 1975 | |
 | ||
Date of birth (1930-01-18) 18 January 1930 (age 85) Knessets Israeli legislative election, 1977 | ||
Shmuel "Samy" Flatto-Sharon (Hebrew: שמואל פלאטו-שרון, born 18 January 1930) is a controversial French-Israeli businessman, radio talk-show host and former politician who was a member of the Knesset between 1977 and 1981.
Biography
Flatto-Sharon was born in Łódź, Poland in 1930. His family escaped to France after the German invasion of Poland, with Shmuel disguised as a girl. He attended high school in Paris and Strasbourg, and joined the Young Communist League in 1945.
In 1975 he made aliyah to Israel, fleeing the French authorities as he was wanted for embezzling $60 million. Despite barely speaking Hebrew, in 1977 he formed a one-man party, also named Flatto-Sharon, to run in the Knesset elections that year, hoping to obtain parliamentary immunity to avoid extradition to France.
The list won 2% of the vote, enough for two seats. However, as it was a one-man list, only one seat was taken. It has been suggested that the surprising level of support that the party won was a response to France's refusal to extradite Abu Daoud, who was wanted in Israel for the murder of 11 Israeli Olympic athletes in Munich.
Once ensconced in the Knesset, Flatto-Sharon joined Menachem Begin's coalition, with one of his first acts being to vote in favour of a law that prohibited the extradition of Israeli citizens. He sat on the Economic Affairs Committee and in 1978 he renamed the party Development and Peace. During his Knesset term he was involved in negotiations to free Israeli POWs. The party ran in the 1981 and 1984 elections, but did not pass the electoral threshold of 1% in either, and subsequently disappeared. Flatto-Sharon was never extradited to France to serve the five-year sentence given to him in his absence, as the five-year statute of limitations had expired.
In 1984 he was sentenced to three months community service for bribery during the 1977 election campaign. It had emerged that he had "bought votes in 1977 by promising apartments to young couples and homes to others at reduced prices" as well as paying voters (who were described as "campaign workers") and giving money to a local party in Dimona to be associated with his party. His community service was performed in a state agency in Tel Aviv.
Flatto-Sharon is now an established multi-millionaire and works as a radio talk-show host; his show, named Flatto Bli Heshbon (Flatto without accountability) is broadcast on numerous stations, including Radius 100, Lev HaMedina, Radio Haifa and Radio Darom FM.