Former Israeli prime minister and storied general Ariel Sharon, who was at the height of his power when he suffered a stroke in 2006 and fell into an irreversible coma, died Saturday at the age of 85.

Sharon died at Tel Hashomer hospital just outside Tel Aviv, where his family had gathered at his bedside over the past several days as his vital organs reportedly deteriorated. His death was first reported by Israeli Army radio.

Visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry addressed Sharon’s condition ahead of a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday.

"My thoughts are with the Sharon family as they sit in vigil with the former prime minister of Israel, Arik Sharon," Kerry said, referring to Sharon by his nickname. "We remember his contributions, sacrifices he made to ensure the survival and the well-being of Israel, and I have many personal thoughts about my meetings with him on many different occasions -- always robust and strong and clear about his positions."

Sharon, an iconic figure who fought in three wars before entering politics, was elected prime minister in 2001. He suffered a stroke in January 2006, at the height of his political power, and remained comatose since then.

However, in 2011 his son Gilad told the New York Times his father could move his fingers when he asked him to, adding, "I am sure he hears me."

In the months leading up to his stroke, longtime hardliner Sharon had shocked his political base by expelling Jewish settlers from 21 Gaza settlements and from four on the West Bank

He also resigned as head of the Likud party and formed a new centrist party called Kadima ("Forward").

Sharon's longtime rival and current prime minister, Netanyahu, was elected his replacement as head of Likud.

Sharon suffered a mild stroke in December 2005 and was released from the hospital after two days. A little more than two weeks later he suffered a massive intra cerebral hemorrhage from which he never recovered.

Sharon's deputy, Ehud Olmert, was elected prime minister two months later.

Sharon was born February 26, 1928 in the then British Mandate of Palestine to a family of Lithuanian Jews. By the age of 10 he had entered the Zionist youth movement Hassadeh and later the Haganah, the military precursor to the Israel Defense Forces.

His military career flourished as he became a commander in the Israeli army, celebrated as a military strategist.

He was an instrumental figure in the 1956 Suez War, the Six Day War of 1967, the Yom Kippur War of 1973 and as Minister of Defense directed the 1982 Lebanon War.


Sharon joined the Likud party after retiring from the military, serving in a number of ministerial posts and then as party leader in 2000 before becoming prime minister from 2001-2006.

Widowed twice, he is survived by his sons Gilad and Omri.

Sharon was a commander in the Israeli Army from its inception in 1948. As a paratrooper and then an officer, he participated prominently in the 1948 War of Independence, becoming a platoon commander in the Alexandroni Brigade and taking part in many battles, including Operation Ben Nun Alef. He was an instrumental figure in the creation of Unit 101, and the Retribution operations, as well as in the 1956 Suez Crisis, the Six-Day War of 1967, the War of Attrition, and the Yom-Kippur War of 1973. As Minister of Defense, he directed the 1982 Lebanon War.

During his military career, he was considered the greatest field commander in Israel's history, and one of the country's greatest ever military strategists.[2] After his assault of the Sinai in the Six-Day War and his encirclement of the Egyptian Third Army in the Yom Kippur War, the Israeli public nicknamed him "The King of Israel" and "The Lion of God".[2]

After retiring from the army, Sharon joined the Likud party, and served in a number of ministerial posts in Likud-led governments in 1977–92 and 1996–99. He became the leader of the Likud in 2000, and served as Israel's Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006. In 1983 the Kahan Commission, established by the Israeli Government, found that as Minister of Defense during the 1982 Lebanon War Sharon bore "personal responsibility" for the massacre by Lebanese militias of Palestinian civilians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, for his having disregarded the prospect of acts of bloodshed by the Phalangists against the population of the refugee camps, and not having prevented their entry.[3] The Kahan Commission recommended Sharon's removal as Defense Minister, and Sharon did resign after initially refusing to do so. In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Sharon championed construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. However, as Prime Minister, in 2004–05 Sharon orchestrated Israel's unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Facing stiff opposition to this policy within the Likud, in November 2005 he left Likud to form a new Kadima party. He had been expected to win the next election and was widely interpreted as planning on "clearing Israel out of most of the West Bank", in a series of unilateral withdrawals.[4][5][6] However, Sharon suffered a stroke on 4 January 2006 and was left in a permanent vegetative state until his death eight years later.[7]

He died on 11 January 2014, two weeks after his condition declined

Dreadclaw69 wrote:

 snurl wrote:
My sister was named Sharon.

And the Little Mermaid was called Ariel