The real past of Mr. Sharon

I have always known how dirty politics could get, but never had I dreamt in my wildest dreams that it could get this dirty. Let me explain. If you breathe, you probably know what is going on in the Middle East right now; months of civil unrest have left hundreds dead and many more injured. Both sides argue that the other side is responsible, but we all know, what is happening is the result of a vicious cycle. You kill one or two of my people, so I kill one or two of your people. The United States, in the meantime, with its new administration, has decided to adopt a new policy on this issue. It is called the "If I Bury My Head Under in Sand, Then I Become Invisible" policy. Or maybe it's the "I Can't See Them, So They Can't See Me" policy. Sure, this will work -- for the more powerful side. If two people are fighting and one has a gun and the other one a rock and the only police officer around pretends he can't see what is going on, who do you want to be? The person with the gun or the person with a stone? We all hate the Nazis. There is no question about that. They killed millions and systematically massacred the Jews of Europe; a horrible act that makes me want to scream when I think about it. When, on February 4, 2000, a new Austrian government was sworn in with ministers from Joerg Haider's Freedom Party, I was furious. After all, Haider was a man everyone had come to know and hate. In 1991, he was forced to resign as the governor of the Carinthia Province after publicly praising Adolf Hitler's "orderly employment" policies. So when the entire world reacted with outrage to his possible comeback, I was not surprised. Israel recalled its ambassador and European nations and the United States threatened economic sanctions if Haider were to get a position in the government. Now, that was the right thing to do. The message that the world sent that day to the Austrian government and people was simple: A person who praises the Nazis should not be given a powerful position in any government. In that light, consider this: In 1981, Ariel Sharon was the Israeli minister of defense in the second Menachem Begin government. In June 1982 he masterminded Israel's invasion of Lebanon. He was effectively responsible for the brutal attack on Lebanon, which went on for weeks despite little resistance. In the same year, the Maronite Christians of Lebanon -- who were then under the control and orders of the Israeli military -- massacred over 2,000 Palestinian men, women and children in refugee camps outside Beirut. Under the findings of an official commission of inquiry (the Kahan Commission), Sharon was also held responsible for the massacres of Palestinian civilians in Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in September 1982. He resigned from his post in 1983 but remained minister without portfolio until 1984. During that year, he became Israel's minister of trade and industry in the government of Shimon Peres. With Ariel Sharon, we are talking about a war criminal. Remember how the world reacted to Haider's election merely for his words? Haider never killed or was held responsible for killing anyone -- and the world effectively cut him off from the global community. Sharon, on the other hand, has gone from minister of defense to minister of trade and industry -- and we just watch passively. Sharon, then, became Israel's minister of construction and housing in 1990, a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee from 1990 to 1992 and chairman of the committee overseeing Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union. In 1996, he became minister of national infrastructure in Benjamin Netanyahu's government -- a post created especially for him. In October 1998, he became minister for foreign affairs. And the same people who politically murdered Haider for his remarks still did not say a word against this brutal man. So he kept on rising and gaining more power. In September 1999, Sharon was elected as the chairman of the Likud Party. And finally, a few weeks ago, he won the elections to become prime minister of Israel. This one is beyond the usual dirty politics. This is an Adolf Hitler-like character resurrected to lead Israel. How ironic.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.