Great Thing

I know ,I know a fanatic is someone who won't change his mind and can't change the subject. But if Churchill was right and all the great things are simple, and can be expressed in a single word:freedom; justice; honor; duty; mercy; hope then in me mind the next Prime Minister of the State of Israel is a simple call , Anatoly Sharansky who in 1973 applied for a visa to Israel, but was refused by the Russian goverment. Remaining involved in Jewish refusenik work until his arrest in 1977. Then convicted in 1978 of spying on behalf of the United States, Sharansky was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment. He spent 16 months in Lefortovo prison, frequently in solitary confinement and in a torture cell, before being transferred to the Siberian gulag.

With his will power he forced the russian jewery issue on every front, causing everyone from dissidents in Eastern Europe to diplomats in Red Square to rethink the moral standards of the Kremlin. A battle for his release was waged by his wife, who moved to Israel right after their wedding . Intense public outcries for his release were met success in 1986, when Sharansky was released to Israel as part of an East-West prisoner exchange. Sharansky served as Minister of Industry and Trade from June 1996-1999 and as Minister of the Interior from July 1999 until his resignation in July 2000.Then he served as Minister of Housing and Construction and Deputy Prime Minister from March 2001 until February 2003. The Israel b'Aliya Party, established in 1996 and was led by Sharansky (he has since resigned as party leader) it has the vision that attracted many of us to zionism in the first place.This moderate right-wing party mainly serves Israel’s immigrant population supports Palestinian autonomy, but not a Palestinian state.

Finally, Sharansky was made Minister responsible for Jerusalem, Social and Diaspora affairs.In an altruistic move, Sharansky resigned from the government on May 2, 2005, because of his opposition to Sharon's disengagement plan. Saying the "disengagement plan would do nothing to advance democracy on the part of the Palestinians and was tearing Israeli society apart" .

"I believe any concessions in the peace process must be linked to democratic reforms within Palestinian society" ...."Not only does the disengagement plan ignore such reforms, it will in fact weaken the prospects for building a free Palestinian society and at the same time strengthen the forces of terror," ..."Israel's departure from Gaza will not help build a society in which free speech, independent courts and free markets thrive" he said.And it will not end incitement in the Palestinian media and schools, or promote the dismantling of the terrorist infrastructure.

In his book The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror, Sharansky argues that benefits to countries must be in direct correlation to the amount of freedom they allow their people. He also feels Israel is making a mistake by failing to demand democratic reform in exchange for Israel giving up Gaza . He said the will only worsen the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and increase terrorism."Yet what turns this tragic mistake into a missed opportunity of historic proportions is the fact that as a result of changes in the Palestinian leadership and the firm conviction of the leader of the free world that democracy is essential to stability and peace - a conviction that is guiding America's actions in other places around the world - an unprecedented wind of opportunity has opened," Sharansky wrote."How absurd that Israel, the sole democracy in the Middle East, still refuses to believe in the power of freedom to transform our world". As I have said in the name of Osa Rasha (I hope our next PM forgives me for quoting stalin)before "ideas are more powerful then guns".



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