Israel's richest woman Arison stands by her "visions"

By Tova Cohen and Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Five months after Israel's richest woman caused a media uproar with a book telling of her "visions" and receiving messages "from above", Shari Arison says she has no regrets and is now publishing it in North America.

The controlling shareholder of Hapoalim, the country's second-largest bank, Arison said that while her statements were met by cynicism from colleagues, people on the street were very supportive.

The book, "Birth -- When the Spiritual and the Material Come Together", became a bestseller in Israel. In it, Arison said she received messages from above, both images and worded communications, including one about two years ago that told her to prepare for an "impending collapse".

"My response was not economic; I did not rush to sell my assets in order to prevent losses or try to make a profit," she wrote in the book, which will be launched in the United States and Canada on Tuesday.

"My only response was to continue with even greater determination on my path."

In an interview with Reuters on Sunday, Arison, 52, said people on the street have told her the book gave them courage to speak about things they didn't have the courage to say before.

As for her colleagues, the reaction was not so much negative as "people not connecting or not agreeing", she said.

The U.S.-born Arison along with her brother inherited billions of dollars from her late father Ted Arison, who founded Carnival Corp, the world's biggest cruise ship operator.