Ariel Sharon

No doubt there will be much celebration among the Palestinian crowd over the death of Ariel Sharon after so many years of lingering in a coma. As for myself, while I cannot say I am an expert of the man, I did admire him as a warrior who fought for his country. To see the hate directed at him by the pro-Palestinian forces, he must have been pretty effective. I recall the obscene, anti-Semitic poster that was placed on the UC Irvine Muslim Student Union's  apartheid wall" a few years ago showing a caricature of Sharon drawn in the Nazi style of Julius Streicher's Der Stuermer.

 I also  recall many years ago when Sharon was interviewed by Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes, who tried to tear him apart with his prosecutorial questions. Instead, Wallace got his head handed back to him  on a platter as Sharon surgically and sarcastically cut him to pieces.

Of course, one of the charges against Sharon was that he turned a blind eye as a commander in Lebanon when Lebanese Christian militias went into two Palestinian refugee camps and massacred men, women and children while Israeli troops were controlling the area. How much those charges were justified, I do not know.

Due to the circumstances of Sharon's condition e past several years, his death comes as a release. May he rest in peace.