Appreciating Sharon

Today as I was driving to work I was listening to the news on the radio, on Galei Tzahal. They were talking about that many people from all over Israel came to Jerusalem to Hadassah hospital to visit sick Prime Minister Sharon. And even though no one was actually allowed to go to the ICU to visit him, people came anyway.

Out of the crowd, the correspondent picked one woman for a live interview who was particularly interesting. She was one of the people who were evicted from Gaza and recently moved to another settlement inside Israel to a new house. When they asked her why she came to visit Sharon she responded as follows. By the way, everything I am writing here was said by her directly without any commentary from the correspondent.

Before the disengagement took place she was extremely angry at Sharon and the government for evicting her out of her home. But a few months ago she moved into her new home in the settlement of Nitzan, near Ashkelon, where many of Gush Katif residents were relocated to. After she moved in, she realized that her life has been drastically improved. There were no more daily terrorist threats and attacks, her children were really happy in the new place, her house was really nice (apparently nicer than the old one in Gush Katif), and her life seemed to be a lot more peaceful. So she came to visit Sharon, to say thank you to him personally for removing her out of Gaza and putting her into such a nice place.

After listening to this I suddenly felt really proud to be an Israeli. It’s not often that we get to hear such things, especially when those who protest always make themselves heard even if they are the minority, but those who are happy keep it to themselves. It made my day.

I wish that Hashem would grant a Refuah Shleima to Ariel Sharon and that his dream of peace and security in Israel would one day become a reality, and hopefully I will get to see it.