Background
Flatto-Sharon was born in Łódź, Poland in 1930.
Flatto-Sharon was born in Łódź, Poland in 1930.
He attended high school in Paris and Strasbourg, and joined the Young Communist League in 1945.
His family escaped to France after the German invasion of Poland, with Shmuel disguised as a girl. 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.
However, as it was a one-man list, only one seat was taken.
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. lieutenant 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.