The General Rests: Ariel Sharon Passes

Ariel Sharon from PM facebook postYesterday, just as I was ascending in a cable car looking out over Haifa and the sea, my phone went into a meltdown of buzzes and beeps.

Ariel Sharon had finally passed. It’s not the place of Israellycool to write comprehensive obituaries but we won’t fail to mark the passing of this great hero.

Now is also not the time to argue: we can agree on so much more. The man was a great defender of Israel, a builder and, above all, a great, proud Jew.

We don’t seem to have a generation of leaders these days. That is a huge pity.

Here’s a story posted by my former podcast partner:

In 1948, Ariel Sharon was given the task of leading a unit of Holocaust survivors fresh off the boat from Europe into battle at Latrun, in an effort to relieve the siege of Jerusalem. Most of these men were barely fit for battle, but the situation was utterly desperate, and Ben Gurion insisted the operation had to go ahead no matter what the cost. Sharon explained the situation to his unit, and they told him that despite their lack of training and equipment, they knew the odds and were prepared to fight. At least if they did, it would be with a weapon in their hands, facing the enemy, rather than in a Nazi concentration camp. They were, predictably, cut to bits, although Jerusalem was eventually relieved. Every year since then, on the anniversary of the battle, Sharon visited the cemetery where they were buried. Many of them had no families, and he felt their sacrifice was something that needed to be remembered.

Israeli PM’s Facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=785084724839608&set=a.155541071127313.32231.124149704266450&type=1

11 thoughts on “The General Rests: Ariel Sharon Passes”

  1. Ariel Sharon does illicit strong reactions from everyone who has any knowledge of his life. I prefer to think of him as the prime minister of Israel post Gaza, taking bold actions to advance peace with the Palestinians. It doesn’t seem to have done much good though. There is almost universal revulsion and condemnation from the Palestinian side at the mention of Ariel Sharon. Still, I can’t help but think the ongoing peace negotiations would have a much greater chance of success if Sharon were head of state rather than Netanyahu.

  2. This is where you are wrong! There is nothing great about one who harms his brethren.

    Its not our place to forgive someone who hurt others. Only the people whom he hurt could forgive him.

    I pass judgment on Ariel Sharon! I’ll always remember him in the very worst sort of way – for the evil he did and which he could have avoided.

    He died exactly ten years to the day he announced the expulsion of Jews from the Land Of Israel. And for that, he paid the price, with his consciousness and then with his very life! I am not joining in the mourning for him. I am not one of those who subscribes to the now fashionable view we must refrain from judging others.

    There are sins in the world people commit we cannot make light of! And when they’re struck down because of them as a result, we must take heed and resolve to be better than they are.

            1. Is there a single prime minister who the Israeli people have actually elected over the last 50 years, who you think did a good job? It seems to me you have impossibly high standards for your prime ministers. Cut ’em some slack, whether living or dead. I know you carry a torch for Moshe Feiglin, but he’s as likely to become prime minister of Israel as a dead cat.

    1. *two thumbs up*

      Not happy that he died, but after expelling so many Jews from their home (by another Jew!) he lost all his credit and whatever he did in the past is worth ZERO!

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