Australians honour Sharon’s legacy
AUSTRALIAN and world leaders this week added their voices to the global tributes paid to Ariel Sharon.
AUSTRALIAN and world leaders this week added their voices to the global tributes paid to Ariel Sharon.
Expressing Australia’s condolences, Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss described Sharon as “a man of great courage … a controversial leader but undeniably a leader of conviction … reshaping the political landscape”.
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, who attended Sharon’s funeral, remembered “a significant figure among the founding generation of Israel – a forefather who helped create and protect a homeland for the Jewish people. He displayed courage in his military involvement during Israel’s major wars, and in his leadership of Israel during its 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip”.
ALP foreign affairs spokesperson Tanya Plibersek, who in 2002 labelled Sharon a “war criminal” and Israel “a rogue state”, recalled him as “a giant in the history of Israel”.
United States President Barack Obama said Sharon “dedicated his life to the State of Israel”, while US Secretary of State John Kerry “admired the man who was determined to ensure the security and survival of the Jewish State”.
Former president George W Bush was “honoured to know this man of courage and call him friend. He was a warrior for the ages, and a partner in seeking security for the Holy Land and a better, peaceful Middle East.”
British PM David Cameron said Sharon “took brave and controversial decisions in pursuit of peace”, and France’s President Francois Hollande lauded his “turn to dialogue with the Palestinians”.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon remembered “his political courage and determination to carry through with the painful and historic decision to withdraw Israeli settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip”.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) president Robert Goot said Sharon was “a complex human being with a public life full of paradoxes. He was a brilliant and creative military commander … He courageously and controversially ordered Israel’s unilateral pull-out from Gaza.”
Zionist Federation of Australia president Philip Chester hailed Sharon as “one of the last remaining founding fathers of the State of Israel … soldier, politician and prime minister”.
Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Dr Colin Rubenstein saw Sharon as “an outstanding, heroic soldier and a transformative, respected – if at times controversial – political figure”.
The Zionist Council of Victoria will hold Shloshim for Sharon on February 16 at Beth Weizmann Community Centre at 8pm. The Zionist Council of NSW will hold Shloshim for Sharon on February 11, with details to be announced.
PETER KOHN
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