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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it

Occupation magazine - Commentary Home page  back Print  Send To friend He was always first Sol Salbe: Journalist Hanna Kim summation of Ariel `Arik` Sharon seemed to have have hit the mark among my friends (if `Like`s and shares are any guide). She doesn`t mince her words. It was so good I decided to translate it. ====================================================================== https://www.facebook.com/sol.salbe/posts/10152154391179419 https://www.facebook.com/hk1957/posts/796654970359948 He was always first. The first person about whom Ben-Gurion was quoted as saying that he is a liar. The first to have founded a cross-border liquidation/assassinations unit, Unit 101, there leading a bunch of weirdoes bordering madness with knives between their teeth . The first to have received a farm and a home as a present from a US millionaire . The first to have introduced a War of the Generals here during a war. The first he had a `war room` of sycophants, later called `the sheep station [farm] forum ` consisting of people with a crush on him, in whose company you were not allowed to have said a bad word about him. The first to have had his wife proudly say that she was his `geisha` . The first to have become a real hero for the ultra-Orthodox, including anti- Zionist among them, who saw him as King David, and he was the only who was capable, showing an amazing knowledge of what goes on in the Rebbes` innermost circles, not only to know them but also to mediate between them. The first to be dismissed as Defence Minister because of his disputed reports during the First Lebanon War , while reinforcing the image of Israel as a pariah state after the Sabra and Shatila. The first to have combined the essence of being a Mapainik with being a Herutnik and establishing the Likud . The first embraced the dark horse, Benjamin Netanyahu , immediately upon his return to Israel from his position as the Israeli Ambassador to the UN, and the first to have shaken him off, calling him the `model` [in the mannequin sense] . The first not to hesitate to lay a hand on the Likud`s holiest of holy -- the Begin family, showing disdain to the father who couldn`t take it anymore, and the son, Benny Begin, whom he called `The Orphan`. The first to strike at his own creation, the Likud, by establishing the Kadima party. The first to have mounted the Likud stage after Netanyahu`s defeat by Ehud Barak, grabbing the microphone, and proclaiming that the party must keep on going. According to Tzipi Livni it was his way to take over the leadership: get his birthright through the takeover of the party apparatus. The first to have asserted copyright ownership over the creation of Hamas, and also carried out the disengagement plan without talking to Hamas because Gaza has become a stronghold of Hamas. The first to have allowed his Treasurer, Benjamin Netanyahu, in exchange for the latter`s support of the disengagement plan - introduce Thatcherism to Israel, with an accelerated economic revolution , in which government business entities were sold dirt cheap, the National Insurance scheme taken over, pension funds were transferred to the tycoons, natural resources were plundered, economic centralisation broke new records, and the false ideology `thin man fat man` [private and public sectors] was propagated. That ideology forced a cruel diet on more than 90 per cent of Israelis who [financially] became ultra-thin. And yes, he had a sense of humour. And yes, he was fun to talk to, while he flicked through his spiral-bound notebook in which he recorded all kinds of thoughts that came into his head. And yes , he was fascinating, corrupt, a dangerous person who did not stop at a red light, didn`t bother too much with the pros and cons, but to his last moment took revenge and held it against anyone who did not blindly follow him. In my journalistic experience, Sharon`s camp within Likud was always the most fascinating and paranoid as well as being the craziest. It had characters who to this day are etched upon my memory (Hi ,Sarah Sasson). Arik was the first King of Israel. Shalom. ak Links to the latest articles in this section Is there still a chance to break the cycle of revenge and bloodshed? Israelis Against Apartheid Statement Following ICJ Hearing Three weeks into the Gaza War - a somber and sober assessment, with some historical perspectives