Sharon prompts international media frenzy
International media coverage of prime minister's stroke pushes aside local news
American newspapers did not wait for their printed edition issue online reports on what they described as "Sharon's collapse."
According to the New York Times, even if Sharon recovers, he has a very small chance of being able to run the campaign and to win in the upcoming elections. An article in the paper also detailed Sharon's military and political history, and the prime minister is described as popular due to his military past and willingness to take political risks.
A headline story in the Washington Post also focuses on the prime minister's condition under the headline, "Sharon suffers massive stroke."
The Washington Post's Jerusalem correspondent said that the prime minister faced a life threatening condition, and that religious leaders in Israel are praying for his wellbeing.
"The severity of Sharon's illness raised the likelihood of his prolonged absence from Israel's political stage just months before national elections. He is by far the country's most popular politician and has been seeking a third term, this time as the head of his new centrist party, Kadima," said the Post article.
A Lost Angeles Times article emphasized that "without him, the new party, called Kadima, or Forward, could falter, clouding hopes for a far-reaching accord with the Palestinians."
Live Broadcasts
American news channels aired live images from the Hadassah Ein-Kerem hospital minutes after Sharon arrived. CNN stopped its coverage of the mine tunnel in West Virginia in order to go to a live report from Jerusalem.
The network relayed analysis of Sharon's political maneuvers and Israel's political turmoil following his massive stroke.
British media outlets also focused on the prime minister's condition Thursday morning.
The BBC's website wrote: "Like him or loathe him, the Israeli prime minister is a political colossus for Israelis. He has been at the centre of Israeli political life since the state's creation.
Without him, these are very worrying times for anyone concerned with what has been for more than 50 years the festering wound at the centre of conflict in the region."
The Sky News website wrote that Sharon's "absence from the political scene will almost certainly throw the Middle East peace process into disarray."
