Like so many others, my views of the world have evolved and changed
as I’ve grown to middle age. Many years
ago, in the shadow of the Vietnam era, I was very likely to sing along with
vigour whenever there was a chorus of John Lennon’s Give Peace a
Chance. If I thought about military
leaders at all, it was usually in a negative.
After all, military men were responsible for dragging America – and Australia
as well – into a ‘senseless’ war in the jungles of Vietnam…weren’t they? The pursuit of national goals through warfare
was a habit that simply had to be broken.
Forming alliances, and providing aid to the downtrodden, was an idea
whose time had come. The military
represented a worldview that was, at the very least, seriously outdated.
Well, since you
probably know that I’m speaking this evening after having served close to 30
years in my nation’s armed forces, you probably have at least a sense of where
I’m going with this. In the world of an
eighteen-year-old’s dreams, there is a shining future where all of humanity
works together for mutual benefit. In
the world of a middle-aged man’s experience there is a world where a complex
web of influences and needs motivate people and nations for better and worse. Perhaps more specifically, in the world of an
eighteen-year-old’s dreams, the Prophet Isaiah’s pronouncement on beating
swords into ploughshares, in the second chapter of his book, is read as an
imperative; if we beat our swords into ploughshares, then a
messianic age will come. In the world of
a middle-aged-man’s experience, we can finally read Isaiah’s pronouncement in
its intended context; when we have the confidence to beat our swords
into ploughshares, then that will be a sign that the messianic age has
come.
It’s in this spirit
that I remember Ariel Sharon on this Shabbat, as the sheloshim – the thirty
days’ mourning after his death – comes to a close. My view of Ariel Sharon has evolved over
time, as I’m sure has been the case for some of you.
In Israel, it is
very common for retired senior military leaders to have a second career of
service as political leaders. Three
retired generals have served as Prime Minister:
Yitzchak Rabin, Ehud Barak, and Ariel Sharon. In particular, there are interesting
parallels between Rabin, who is remembered as a man of the Left, and Sharon,
who will always be thought of as a man of the Right. Both men, as Prime Minister, enacted bold
strategies in grasping for peace: brazen
moves that probably only a general would have the confidence to enact. For Rabin, it was the Oslo Accords. For Sharon, it was a unilateral withdrawal
from the Gaza Strip. Both moves were
bitterly opposed by other voices in their day.
In hindsight, both moves are commonly seen as not having achieved much
positive progress toward Israel’s long-term peace and security. But at the time, both moves were popularly seen
as brilliant in giving Israel an ‘out’ from an unsustainable situation.
Sharon, or ‘Arik’ as
he has been affectionately known in Israel, was a towering, larger-than-life
figure in a country that produces a lot of larger-than-life
figures. Even those whose political affiliation
often put them at odds with Sharon the politician, had to admit that he was a
formidable leader. He had the boldness,
not of a Chief of Staff, but of the battlefield commander that he was. His career, both in the military and in
politics, was noted for amazing successes interspersed with setbacks because of
his essential non-conformity.
Sharon was censured
after a 1953 operation, a response to terror attacks into Israel from a West
Bank village, resulted in a number of civilian casualties. Then, in 1956, he conducted an unauthorised
attack on Egyptian forces in Mitla Pass in the Sinai. In the 1967 and 1973 wars, he achieved
brilliant success. But after retiring
from the army, he was serving as Minister of Defence in 1982, at the time of
the War in Lebanon and the Sabra and Shatilla Massacres.
I remember the aftermath
of the Sabra and Shatilla Massacres.
There was a tremendous protest in Kikar Malchei Yisrael in Tel
Aviv, with over a quarter-million people in attendance, demanding an accounting
of Israeli culpability in the incident. After
the findings of the independent Kahan Commission, Sharon was forced to resign
as Defence Minister.
Sharon’s career, in
its ups and downs, parallels that of any risk-taker. In December 2005, at the height of his
political power, Sharon was felled by a stroke that left him in a virtual coma
for the next eight years. He finally
passed away on 11 January 2014. Israel
mourns a great man, and we should also.
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