How did Ariel Sharon come to power as prime minister?
He was a member of the Knesset 1973-1974, and then from 1977-present. In 1975-1976, he served as the security adviser to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He then served as Minister of Agriculture (1977-1981), and as Defense Minister (1981-1983) in Menachem Begin’s Likud government. During the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, while Ariel Sharon was Defense Minister, a massacre of several hundred Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut was carried out by the Phalanges, a Lebanese-Christian militia allied with Israel, who had been sent into the camps at Sharon’s command. The Kahan Committee investigating the events of Sabra and Shatilla, recommended in early 1983 the removal of Sharon from his post as Defense Minister for reasons of negligence, though not complicity in the planning of the massacre. In 1987, Time Magazine published a story implying Sharon’s direct responsibility for the massacres. Sharon responded by suing Time for libel in an American court. Althoug
There’s a good historical synopsis of Ariel Sharon’s career up already, but it doesn’t deal with why he was elected prime minister. Here are my specific thoughts on why he was elected at this particular moment in history, as fair and balanced as possible. Conversations with Jews/Israelis of several political orientations have contributed to my opinion, so I hope none of this offends anyone: Many Israelis felt that Prime Minister Ehud Barak (of the left-wing party) was conceding too much in negotiations with the Palestinians. (The Palestinians would say that they weren’t getting enough, and they have their own equally valid reasons, but we’ll leave that controversy alone for now :). Add to that the Israelis’ (quite understandable) desire to send a strong message that they weren’t going to stand for suicide bombings. So they elected someone they thought would be a strong leader and send the message that Israel was a force to be reckoned with: Ariel Sharon (of the right-wing Likud party),
