The General, Of Blessed Memory

 

Ariel Sharon during 1967's Six Day War

The Man Who Executed the Vision - Nahum Barnea

Ariel Sharon was everything the State of Israel's forefathers dreamed of seeing in the generation of the sons, the born Israelis: handsome, strong, a farmer working his land, a soldier for life. The footsteps he leaves behind are huge.

I'll remember him not in his uniform, but with the mischievous, sly smile of a person who ate people like me, and bigger than me, for breakfast.
(Ynet News)


Former Prime Minister Epitomized Country's Warrior Past
- Glenn Frankel

Ariel Sharon, a monumental figure in Israel's modern history who epitomized the country's warrior past, died Jan. 11, eight years after a massive stroke at the height of his political power. As a soldier, defense minister and prime minister, Sharon fought or commanded forces in every one of Israel's military conflicts for more than half a century, beginning with its 1948 independence war. Sharon chose the title Warrior for his autobiography. 
(Washington Post)


Ariel Sharon: 1928-2014 - Benny Morris

From 1953 to 1955, as the leader of Unit 101 and then of Paratroop Battalion 890, Sharon fashioned the ethos and tactics of IDF commando operations. In the 1967 Six-Day War, Sharon, a division commander, brilliantly conquered the Umm Katef-Abu Agheila Egyptian fortification complex in the Sinai.

In 1970 and 1971, as head of Southern Command, he successfully uprooted Palestinian terrorists from Gaza.

In 1973, Sharon led the game-changing assault across the Suez Canal that forced Egypt, which had launched the Yom Kippur War together with Syria, to beg for a ceasefire.
The writer is a professor of history at Ben-Gurion University.
(Tablet)


Sharon: You Have to Be Creative - Jeffrey Goldberg 
   
"Once, we captured a Lebanese fishing boat," Sharon told me.
   
"We filled it with Lebanese food and newspapers and we put our soldiers in it, dressed as Arabs, who spoke Arabic. And they landed on the beach in Gaza, and the Palestinians hid them. They thought they were their people, fugitives. And we were pursuing them ourselves, making believe they were hunted terrorists."
   
"The Palestinians took them to meet an important group of terrorists in the northern part of the Gaza district. And when they met them our soldiers killed them. Then they were evacuated out of Gaza. You have to think of things like that. You have to be creative."   
(Bloomberg)

 
How Will Sharon Be Remembered? - Sima Kadmon

One has to mention the charisma, the capabilities, the magnetism, the ability to make fun of himself. A meeting with Sharon was pure joy. He was a man with unusual diagnoses, with a fantastic understanding of the human soul, its motives and impulses, who knew how to identify weak points and didn't hesitate to use them.
(Ynet News)
 

Sharon: Myths, Facts, and Blood Libels - Tom Gross

Time magazine was one of many publications to slander Sharon, falsely claiming he ordered the 1982 the Sabra and Shatila massacre of Muslims by Christians in Beirut. Sharon successfully sued Time.

The BBC is already repeating lies on its website that Sharon caused the Second Intifada, failing to report what the Palestinians themselves say. For example, Marwan Barghouti, the de facto leader of the intifada, said: "The intifada did not start because of Sharon's visit to Al-Aqsa." PA communications minister Imad Al-Faluji added: "This intifada was planned in advance, ever since President Arafat's return from the Camp David negotiations."
(National Review)
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