Ariel Sharon was remembered as a great warrior who was also fiercely devoted to his family.
A state memorial service was held Monday attended by multiple foreign dignitaries. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and others attended the ceremony. The Arab world even had a representative as Egypt sent a diplomat to the ceremony.
Vice President Biden delivered a personal address about his decades-long friendship with Sharon and said his passing felt like a “death in the family.” Biden shared stories about how he learned Sharon earned his nickname “The Bulldozer” after he would bring out maps and repeatedly make the same points to hammer home his passion for his country.
He defended this land like a lion and he taught its children to swing a scythe,” Israeli President Shimon Peres said his eulogy. “He was a military legend in his lifetime and then turned his gaze to the day Israel would dwell in safety, when our children would return to our borders and peace would grace the Promised Land.”
Sharon was buried on his farm in southern Israel.
One of Israel’s strongest military and political leaders has gone home.
Ariel Sharon passed away Saturday at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer. His family, including sons Omri and Gilad, were at his side when he died.
Sharon rose to prominence as a military leader in two of Israel’s biggest battles. His tactics for the IDF in both the 1967 Six Day War and 1973 Yom Kippur War are studied by students. Images of a wounded Sharon with a bandage on his head continuing to lead a battle was used as a rallying point for many IDF forces. He had received the nickname “Arik, King of Israel” for his fierceness on the battlefield.
He brought that no-compromise attitude into the political arena where he oversaw the 1982 Lebanon War as defense minister. After a seven year absence from political life, he returned in 1990 as construction and housing minister and headed a massive building effort of over 144,000 homes for the flood of Russian immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
He rose to foreign minister in 1998 and stood up against the Palestinians by walking onto the Temple Mount despite their protests.
Sharon was elected Prime Minister in 2001 and immediately Israel began to build the security barrier in the West Bank. When he discovered too much resistance inside his own political party, he left the Likud in 2005 to form his own party, Kadima. Sharon suffered a debilitating stroke in 2006 before he could stand for another term as Prime Minister, but his party went on to dominate the election under the leadership of Ehud Olmert.
His body will lie in state at the Knesset before his funeral on his Negev ranch next to his late wife Lily. Current and former world leaders are expected to come to Israel for the funeral.