OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, December 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israel's Labor party leader Amram Mitzna charged Wednesday, December 25, that his rival for the January legislative elections Premier Ariel Sharon was spreading "hysteria" among the population over the threat of an Iraqi war to cover up a graft scandal within his own party.

"Ariel Sharon is wreaking panic and hysteria on the dangers coming from Iraq partly to divert public attention from much more serious problems," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Mitzna as telling Israel Army radio.

On Monday, December 23, Sharon paid a much-publicized visit to the Home Front Command during which he reminded the population of the threat of an Iraqi retaliation for a U.S. military offensive.

"The risk of an Iraqi missile attack is low according to our military officials and we need to make the necessary preparations in an unruffled manner and without lapsing into hysteria," Mitzna said.

Sharon's popularity ratings against Mitzna dipped slightly last week following the Likud graft scandal.

The Israeli press already toasted Sharon Tuesday, December 24, and accused him of trying to cover up the scandal which has marred his recent Likud leadership election victory and threatened to undermine his January re-election bid.

In a related development, Israeli National Police Fraud Investigations Unit detectives are investigating whether Deputy Infrastructure Minister Naomi Blumenthal bought votes in the right-wing Likud party's internal elections earlier this month, the Israeli Haaretz and Maariv newspapers reported Wednesday, December 25.

Blumenthal, a candidate who came in ninth in rankings for the Likud Knesset list for January 28 elections, is suspected of having funded payment for some of the rooms in Tel Aviv's City Tower hotel in which members of the Likud Central Committee stayed the night before the primaries, reported Haaretz.

However, Blumenthal has denied any wrong-doing.

On Tuesday, Israeli fraud detectives obtained permission from the Rishon Letzion Magistates Court to allow investigators access to a print-out of incoming and outgoing calls from Blumenthal's driver's cellular phone, added the daily.

This is the latest revelation in the graft scandal that has plagued Likud and coincided with a dip in its poll ratings ahead of next month's election.

Three Likud aspirants have already said they were asked for money in exchange for support from some of the 3,000 committee members who voted on December 8 to select 120 Likud aspirants for next month's poll.

This prompted government legal advisor Eliakim Rubinstein to open a criminal investigation into the affair, and at least one Likud member has been placed under arrest.

Meanwhile, concern is running high within senior Likud circles that the Israeli National Elections Committee Chairman Mishael Cheshin will disqualify Defense Minister and former chief of staff Shaul Mofaz' Knesset candidacy on grounds that he has not completed the "cooling off" period required of senior Israeli army officers before running for Knesset, said Haaretz.

Mofaz, who ranks 12th on the Likud list, is widely viewed as a rising star within the party.

However, Isael Radio quoted Likud officials as saying that even if Mofaz was disqualified as a Knesset candidate, he will keep his defense minister post in the new government.

In a move widely seen as a bid to lure Mofaz' support in a the race for Likud leadership, Sharon appointed Mofaz to replace Benjamin Ben-Eliezer when the Labor leader and then-defense minister walked out with his Labor colleagues from the unity coalition in late October.