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

mr. shimon peres, president of israel, the prime minister of israel.et, thef the whoon family, and those remember the former prime minister, ariel sharon. farewell wordsay to a man i never referred to in his first name. for me, he was always the prime minister, and like this he will stay forever, and even though he protested and was angry that i did not call him by his first name i never uttered that word. i did not know him personally. all i knew about him is what we person. about, a public 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 were saying farewell to somebody who interested us greatly. those who knew him personally are saying farewell personally. his friends from the division are saying farewell to their executed, who always very courageous fights, and those who crossed the channel with him and remember a different kind of commander who satisfied who was not with giving commands, but arrived at the front with the rest of his soldiers. he had to verify that there was o