>> omri, gilad, and members of the sharon family, prime minister and mrs. netanyahu, the

president of the supreme court, the special envoy to the middle east, former prime minister of the united kingdom tony blair. prime minister of the czech republic, the chairman of the states, over the russian federation, the foreign minister of australia, the foreign minister of germany -- [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: our guests from israel and overseas, a friend, a leader, we are thankful to you today, you will -- you with a

shoulder on which we relied on, the security of our nation. your history is enter winding the history of our country and you devoted your life to the country. the imprint of your footsteps is throughout the country. you protected the land. your prince is in every military operation. you decided and made important historic decisions. i remember in the early '50s i was asked to present to prime minister, a young officer who was then a student of history at the hebrew university and who had original ideas how to help the sit ins.

the description i received about you sounded to me more like a poem. it was said to me that you're wise and courageous, nonconformist with courage and leadership, leadership ability, a soldier was not afraid of the enemy and who is not afraid of divisions, a youngster, a youngster, arik, who was born for greatness. i met him and formed a friendship. i said that there is a youngster that is way above all of us who has the ability, rare ability to lead us. ben durbin loved him from first sight. his words captured our hearts and his soldiers followed him blindly. and when one of them was hurt he

never left him until he recovered. to the parade families, he was a brother and a comforter. he knew to tell of their -- israel lib dem and he loved the sons of israel. honored guests, arik was a man of the land. he loved the smell of the land. he protected the land like a lion, and he taught his youngsters how to defend the country. when he was already a legend in his life, he never fear to hope

that israel will stay safe and it sounds will be in a safe country. the aspects to his life, like his sensitivity that came about when he described a butterfly in a tree, or a flower. and, of course, we talked about his friends and colleagues. the love of his wife was well known. his children were deep in his heart. omri and gilad stood by him day and night until his last breath, and devotion and love. ladies and gentlemen, we are laying to rest today a fighter,

a commander who knew how to win, a leader who breezed a dream and the new charmed his people even in the most difficult hours. arik, a rare human being you were. you changed things that seemed impossible to things that are possible. you always pursued dangers when you never delayed decisions. you decided and you also warned. you should now rest, and great leader, who did not allow himself to rest in the defense of his country. the land from which it came from will hide you.

our history will receive you as a man who added its own unforgettable chapter. and as the poet said, a nation will send -- to receive this one miracle. we will miss you greatly, arik. may your memory be blessed. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i'm honored to invite mr. benjamin netanyahu to deliver his eulogy.

>> omri and gilad, members of the sharon family, mr. president peres, vice president joe biden, the president of the czech republic, former prime ministers -- the prime minister of the czech republic, former prime minister tony blair of great britain, distinguished foreign ministers, chairman of the duma and the many delegations who came here from abroad.

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: president of the supreme court, members of the knesset, distinguished guests, ariel sharon was one of the greatest leaders that israel saw and one of the greatest leaders of the idf. arik longs to the generation of the generation of the founding of israel. it was conditional on bringing jewish fighters that will renew their jewish legacy of heroism in israel, legacy that seems to have gone by in the years of the

diaspora. arik sharon had a central role in the building of this heroic legacy. he fought in the idf for many years, from the war of independence until the battles of the yom kippur war. in the doctrine of the fighting of the idf, he laid central pillars. ahead of them, the concept of retaliation and initiative against the war on terror. they did this by establishing unit 101 when he led fighters, heroic fighters as mmeir har-zion and his friends.

arik also implemented for linking in battle it is in the flanking battles of the six-day war. but above everything else, his abilities to maneuver came through in the war of yom kippur when he led the idf forces through the suez canal, and he defeated the egyptian army under his command. he brought the change to the battle and for its successful ending that started under very difficult conditions for the state of israel. in these states, he managed great courage and initiative and wisdom, and contributed greatly to the strength of the fighter

-- fighters. as a minister and a prime minister, he insisted about our right to act so that we can live here in peace and security, a right we insist on also today which is vitally important for our existence and for the peace. i did not always agree with arik and he did not always agree with me. but when he served in my government and i served in his government, we worked in cooperation for the safety and security and economy of israel. he was a practical man. he was a pragmatic man. and his pragmatism was embedded in deep feelings for the state,

and a great feeling for the jewish people. he understood well the essence of anti-semitism, the need of the jews to be their masters of their destiny in their land. he considered greatly our relationship with the united states, and along with it he knew to insist on the vital interests of israel in moments of tests. when the international reaction seemed to them to consider laurie -- seemed to consulate toward, he plead -- appealed to the international community and said the following, do not repeat the horrible mistake of 1938 when democracies in europe decided to sacrifice czechoslovakia for a convenient

solution. don't try to reconcile the arabs at our expense but we will not be able to accept it or arik understood that what concerns our security, we have to stand firm. we are keeping the principals, the state of israel will continue to fight terror. the state of israel will continue to strive for peace while safeguarding our security. and it will in any way to prevent iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. in the history of israel, arik sharon will be registered as one of the greatest leaders and fighters for the state, for the jewish people in its country.

arik, the people of israel say goodbye to you today. your unique contribution to the security of israel is embedded in our history, and your memory, it will be embedded for ever in the heart of the nation. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i'm honored to invite the speaker of the knesset, knesset member to deliver his eulogy. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: omri, gilad, and all the members of the

family, prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his wife, the president of the supreme court, vice president biden, prime minister of the czech republic, speaker of the russian duma, all the distinguished heads of the delegation, thank you for being with us here today. ministers, knesset members, rabbis, knesset members, all the honored guests, the citizens of israel, eight years have passed since the 11th prime minister of israel went into a coma.

arik, and here today his coffin is laying in the knesset so we will give him his last honor. and honor that is kept for the few who devoted their life for the benefit of the entire nation for the fighters who fought win a sharp weapon was put on their neck. in your hands, you are imprinted in the history of israel, and your imprint is in our history. decades of israel will never to have the for his shoulders, and these kids were never to have

before you. wide shoulders, while you're recovering from the battle. where you almost lost your life. your shoulders carried heavy sacks full of weapons in retaliatory battles and became stronger in the six-day war when you defeated the egyptian forces in the suez canal. as samson the hero and then 1970s, you carried the gates of gaza and put forth bravery during the war of yom kippur

war. and since then, you never ceased to want to lead the state of israel among strong winds and waves. always fighting, always original with nerves of steel, ready for every nation -- mission that will be brought by the history or the people. i heard about arik before i met him and, therefore, the first meeting never disappointed me. if native-born's new him as a fighter, the new immigrants new him as a leader with a great capability of implementing actions. as the minister of housing, he stood up and gave all kinds of initiatives to those who have

those without roof over their heads, who made decisions and knew how many new immigrants came, and you have to prepare the data about housing while he's traveling throughout the country. arik was the person who decided to give the same incentives to all the new immigrants, a decision that was implemented under his steward leadership. and made clear, it was made clear that this decision was one of the best decisions. as somebody who served as a minister, i can testify that even in the wee hours of the morning or the night, i could telephone him and discuss with them the difficulties.

in his last years we parted ideologically. i did not agree with his description -- decision to if i quit the gaza strip, and since then there was no one vote in which i supported him. the division was too strong. and despite it all, i did not allow and i will not allow this division to erase his contribution and his ability and willingness to carry the responsibility of this nation on his shoulders. for eight years you continued to struggle. you struggled for each one of your breaths. you thought for every fresh breath, fighting as only you could. you wanted to continue to take omri and gilad, and the rest of the family, to return to your

great love to the ranch, to return to visit the grave of your wife, lily. and above all, to stay with your warm family, which he loved so much. rest in peace. the 11th prime minister, general former knesset member and prime minister, ariel sharon. may your life -- may your memory be blessed forever. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: ♪

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[speaking in native tongue] >> i'm honored to invite the vice president of the united states of america, the honorable mr. joe biden. >> when a close-knit country like israel, a country that has been tested as much as israel, loses a man like prime minister sharon, it doesn't just feel like the loss of a leader, it feels like a death in the family. and many of my fellow americans, some of whom are here, feel that same sense of loss.

i say to prime minister sharon's beloved and devoted sons, omri and gilad, and the entire family, particularly the sons who spent so much time caring for their father in the last few years, it's a great honor you've afforded me on behalf of my country to bring the sympathies of the president of the united states and the american people on this occasion. to you, to prime minister netanyahu and the government of israel, to president peres, and to the grieving men and women of the nation of israel, but most particularly to his beloved idf, his fellow warriors, i fear an attempt to capture him and what he stood for is beyond my capabilities.

i knew him for over 30 years. he was not only a powerful man, he was a powerfully built man. and as a young senator, when you first met him you could not help but understand, as they say in the military, this man had a command presence. he filled the room. the first time i was invited to his office, he said to me -- and i remember thinking, is he serious? he said, senator, you are mostly welcome. i didn't know if it was a matter of something being lost in translation or whether he was pulling my leg, as we say in the states, until i spent a few moments with him and realized how incredible his hospitality was. but when the topic of israel's

security arose, which it always, always, always did in my many meetings over the years with him, you immediately understood how he acquired, as the speakers referenced, the nickname bulldozer. he was indomitable. like all historic leaders, prime minister sharon was a complex man about whom, as you've already heard from his colleagues, who engendered strong opinions from everyone. but like all historic leaders, all real leaders, he had a north star that guided him -- a north star from which he never, in my observation, never deviated.

his north star was the survival of the state of israel and the jewish people, wherever they resided. in talking about his spiritual attachment to the land of israel back in an interview in the late '90s, he said, and i quote, before and above all else, i am a jew. my thinking is dominated by the jews' future in 30 years, in 300 years, in a thousand years. that's what preoccupies and interests me first and foremost. and because he possessed such incredible physical courage -- and i would add political courage -- he never, never,

never deviated from that preoccupation and interest, as he referred to it. it was his life's work that even someone on the shores hundreds of -- thousands of miles from here could see, could smell, could taste, could feel, and when you were in his presence there was never, never any doubt about it. the physical courage he had to lead men straight into enemy lines and deep behind them. i remember, as a young senator, that iconic picture of him with that bandage around his head, standing there after a decisive victory, which seemed to symbolize, as bibi -- as the prime minister said, an israel that had reclaimed its roots of standing up and fighting, needing no help, standing on its

own. the political courage it took, whether you agreed with him or not, when he told 10,000 israelis to leave their homes in gaza in order, from his perspective, to strengthen israel. i can't think of much more controversial; as a student of the jewish state, i can't think of a much more difficult and controversial decision that's been made. but he believed it and he did it. the security of his people was always arik's unwavering mission, an unbreakable commitment to the future of jews, whether 30 years or 300 years from now. we have an expression in the

states: never in doubt. arik was never uncertain from my observation. i don't know him nearly as well as the israeli people and his colleagues, but he seemed never in doubt. but there were times when he acted, and those actions earned him controversy and even condemnation. and in certain instances, american leaders -- american presidents -- had profound differences with him, and they were never shy about stating them nor was he ever shy about stating his position. as i said, from my observation he was a complex man, but to understand him better i think it's important history will judge he also lived in complex times, in a very complex neighborhood.

since he passed away, in the days ahead, there will be much written about the prime minister. and it's right for the israeli people to reflect on all aspects of his life -- the triumphs as well as the mistakes, taking full measure of the man, the arc of his life. for i would argue the arc of his life traced the journey of the state of israel. and through it all, the united states whether we agreed or disagreed with a specific policy has been unflagging in its commitment to the state of israel. we have never stepped away. we have never diminished our support. we have never failed to make israel's case around the world. we have never failed to defend israel's legitimacy. and no one in any corner of this

world has any doubt about where america stands with regard to israeli security, the independent state of israel that is the ultimate refuge for jews wherever they are in the world. and that will never change. as president obama said when he was here in jerusalem last year, and i quote, those who adhere to the ideology of rejecting israel's right to exist, they might as well reject the earth beneath them and the sky above because israel is not going anywhere. so long as there is a united states of america, you are not alone. for his part, arik sharon greatly valued that close friendship between the united

states and israel, and particularly during his years as prime minister, he worked hard to deepen our relationship. i find it fascinating, maybe it's i'm getting older -- i find it fascinating how some look at israel today and say its success was inevitable. why didn't everyone understand this was just inevitable? but at the outset it was anything but inevitable. it was the opposite of inevitable. israel's very survival was against all odds. but thankfully israel was blessed with a founding generation that understood exactly what it took to overcome those odds. so many of that generation, because of the people of the

united states, i have the great honor of personally meeting and getting to know. i did not know david ben gurion, but i knew all but one -- every prime minister since that time. president peres, you and prime minister sharon are part of one of the most remarkable founding generations in the history not of this nation, but of any nation. historians will look back and say, but for -- but for -- the rare and unique men and women at that moment, but for that it's hard to see how we'd be standing here on this day -- leaders like david ben gurion, golda meir, menachem begin, yitzhak rabin,

the list goes on, and you, mr. president, you all had one thing in common from an outside observer's perspective, despite your political differences, it was that you knew in your bones, as one israeli prime minister told me over 35 years ago when i was opining of the difficulty israel faced surrounded by hostile neighbors at the time, looked at me and said, senator, don't worry. we jews have a secret weapon in our struggle in the region. we have nowhere else to go. that realization, it seems to me, is what energized your

entire generation of leadership. i believe that's one of the reasons why arik sharon and so many others fought so hard their whole lives. prime minister sharon was not only loved by the jewish people, he not only loved them -- the jewish people -- but he loved the land of israel. not just the idea of it, but the actual land itself. born on a farm, about to be buried on a farm, a ranch, i remember one of the meetings i had with him. it was a somewhat heated, and he had his maps. and he spread them out in his office again. and i somewhat irreverently said, mr. prime minister -- i said, do you want me to do it, or are you going to do it?

because i had heard his presentation many times. and in the midst of it, he looked at me, and he said, let me tell you about the new calf that i just got on my ranch. and he started talking about a calf. ladies and gentlemen, the book of genesis says, arise and walk the length and breadth of the land. arik sharon did just that. he tilled it as a farmer. he fought for it as a soldier. he knew every hilltop and valley -- every inch of the land. as i said, he loved his maps. he used to come to the meetings with maps of the land rolled up under each arm. they were always maps. i'm reminded -- my mother's

blessed memory, i'm reminded of -- if you'll forgive me -- an irish poet, an irish writer. i'm sure prime minister blair will forgive me. that irish writer was james joyce. and he said, when i die, dublin will be written on my heart. i am absolutely sure the land of israel, the negev is etched in arik sharon's soul as it was written on joyce's heart. and the defining attributes of this great man's character -- passion for the jewish people, physical and political courage, and love of this land -- they have all played out on the

canvas of the state of israel's historic trajectory. arik sharon's journey and the journey of the state of israel are inseparable. they are woven together, in war, in politics, in diplomacy. toward the end of his life, he said, i've been everywhere. i've met kings, queens, presidents. i've been around the world. i have one thing that i would like to do, to try to reach peace. we'll never know what the ultimate arc of arik sharon's life would have been had he been physically able to pursue his stated goal. that will be for historians to speculate and debate. but we do know this: as prime minister, he surprised many. i've been told that, in reflecting on the difference

between how he viewed things as a general and as prime minister, he would paraphrase an israeli song lyric that said, things you see from here, look different from over there. what would have -- what would they have looked like had he lived in good health and led those eight years? he left us too soon, but the work of trying to reach peace continues. and to quote shakespeare: he was a man, take him all in all, we shall not look upon his like again. may the bond between israel and the united states never, ever be broken.

[speaking in native tongue] >> i'm honored to invite former prime minister of great britain mr. tony blair. >> the sharon family, mr. president, vice president,

prime minister of the czech republic, excellencies and delegations. my official meetings with arik sharon were difficult. he was not comfortable in formal meetings surrounded by protocol. he would read at length from them, repeating and repeating israel's position. really, arik i would say, i understand what you're saying. okay, he would reply, and then pause. but just in case, i will say it again. and then one time i invited him to my home for dinner. no protocol. i wanted to know the man.

and now i saw a completely different arik. warmhearted, humorous, charming, and passionate. about his country, of course, but also about his wonderful family and his farming. and over the years we worked together as prime minister's, he took actions no one ever thought he would take, the roadmap, withdraw from gaza. but the ideas that he changed from the man of war to the men of peace, that which defines him, actually he never changed. is strategic objectives never

wavered. the states which from the age of 14, he thought to bring it to being, had to be protected for future generations. when that meant fighting, he fought. when that meant making peace, he sought peace. and the same iron determination he took to the field of war, he took to the chamber of diplomacy. bold, unorthodox, unyielding. we should never think, however, that he didn't reflect deeply. as i got to know him better i realized this man was a student of history as well as a maker of it. ybor the anguish of the true

decision-maker. he had the quality of leadership and abundance. but he also had the intelligence to be conscious of its perils, and the uncertain swings of fate. once decided, he was unflinchi unflinching. he carried all the forums, and in this mode he didn't move. he charged. positions, parties, policies. he could leave destruction in his wake. but always his destination was clear, as was his motivation. and in this he is a standardbearer, not only for israel, but for its leadership. he had the toughness of mind to

despise all illusions about the threat facing israel. but he had the imagination to know that genuine peace, if attainable, with honor and dignity over arabs and for israelis, was ultimately for israel's security. he did not pursue peace as a dreamer, but he did dream of peace. and an end to war. in this he represented something that i've noticed in all the israeli leaders that i've encountered, those who have been prime minister, those aspiring to be prime minister.

beneath that which is common to all politics, the maneuvers and the imaginations and the track's and the trappings of power, it's found in israel something unusual and precious in politics. a true love of country, a supreme love for the state of israel and the land of israel. for what it is, for what it took to build it, and what it will take to sustain it. there was no higher calling than this for arik sharon, and the weather calling. and by israel, he meant not only a country and a people, but an idea. that the jewish people, so often

victims of injustice and persecution, should have a state where they could be independent and free. afraid of no one, equal to everyone. judge not on prejudice but on merit. on what they achieved and what they give of their own free will. so think good or ill of arik sharon, agree or disagree with them, that calling, a noble one, was plain. that, from my experience with arik sharon, tough but shy, indomitable yet a servant to his people. a warrior to create his country, yet wise enough to know that war

alone could not secure its future. he was a giant of this land. born of the union of a great spirit and a big heart, let him take his place in the history of israel with pride. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i'm honored to invite now the director of the prime minister, please.

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: president official, mr. benjamin netanyahu, prime minister of israel, speaker of the knesset, dear sharon family and those who remember the former prime minister, ariel sharon. i'm going to say farewell words to a man i never refer to in his first name. for me, he was always the prime minister, and for like this he will stay forever. and even though he protested and was angry that i didn't call them arik, i never uttered this

work. until he was elected to the prime minister office, i did not know him personally. all i knew about him is what we all knew about a public person. because of the image i thought it would be hard for me to work with him. but soon i found out otherwise. a lot of us we are saying farewell to somebody who embrace this greatly. those who knew him personally are saying farewell personally. is a friend from the 101 -- are saying farewell to their commander who always executed very courageous fights. and those who crossed the channel with them and remember a different kind of commander who

did not -- was not satisfied with commands, but arrived as -- at the front with the rest of his soldiers. he had to verify that there was no mishaps, and he had to lay coming hand on the shoulder of the young officer because the fate of the entire nation was on his shoulders. and i it was his personal secretary for five years, saying farewell to a person i discovered to my surprise. on this chair in the prime minister, i met a man who saw around him other people a sensitive interested man who treated his subordinates while

-- well. a prime minister who ran decisions making had ability to look at the eyes of his fellow man and see what no other person could see. two months after he became prime minister, one of the workers of the office, he called me and asked me to talk to her because her eyes were sad and because she probably has problems. he said so, and he was right. and among those who surrounded her, it was only he who was at the head of the pyramid who noticed her sorrow in days of heavy burden of work. he noticed this person who did not know personally. he had two minutes to notice her sorrow. this i also noticed when he met

with families. in the five years that he served as prime minister, he always responded positively to meet with bereaved families. had referred -- he prepared for these things like a prepared for meetings with world leaders, knowing each problem and knowing each person of the family. he would look, penetrating look at the bereaved families. i know that there is no stop to your brain, and after -- stop to your pain. after a few minutes he knew that pain never goes away, and i knew that he spoke about them and also about himself, about his personal pain that never left him, paint about the death of

his oldest son. i never quite understood what really happened there, what was in a meeting of a prime minister with the bereaved families. i know that each time the bereaved mothers entered with pain with red eyes and left his office with gratitude and a different look. and emphasized his human nature and in his image, the memory that he carried from the battle in 1948, not a memory of his wound but the memory of the holocaust survivors. until his last day in the prime

minister, he talked about those survivors of the holocaust who are the last remnants of their families, while the nativeborn were laying under the branches of the olive tree. integrated in the israeli center, he noted the youngsters who were so different. the youngsters who arrived from there, with different clothing, with different names, who had them printed in them the numbers. and all his life he carried their memory, who did not have a family to return to, and that when they fail in battle, nobody

said she found them. and he, in every memorial service, would go to the wall of the names and put his hand on their names. he never forgot them. and his hand was the only hand that touched so softly their black letters. five years in his midst, opened for me and his team, a look at the beautiful and forgotten israel, the one that when he talked about it, his eyes glowed, the village was born in and the battle from whom he returned with understanding that you do not leave the wounded.

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