9 Ways Ariel Sharon Earned The Nickname "Arik, King Of Israel"

Hint: He didn't do it the easy way.

1: He was impervious to fear.

media.giphy.com / Via giphy.com

Many who served on the front lines with Sharon claim he was unaffected by enemy fire, always calmly marching forward with his head held high.

2: He stopped Egypt from overrunning Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

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Sharon's armored assault crossed the Suez canal and trapped the Egyptian 3rd army. It was the largest tank battle the world had seen in 30 years.

3: He fought or led in every one of Israel's major conflicts until his stroke in 2006.

“Over the course of nearly 60 years, my father has been on the frontline of all major national events in Israel,” says Gilad Sharon. “There is no matter of national importance that he has not addressed, influenced or left his mark upon.”

4: As Prime Minister, he was a "man of peace."

Via enterstageright.com

President George W. Bush called Sharon a "man of peace" in 2002. 3 years later, Sharon took the unprecedented step of withdrawing Israel from the Gaza Strip, despite significant opposition within his own party.

5: Sharon was directly responsible for creating the Israel's first dedicated Special Forces unit.

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Tasked with curbing terrorist activities in the early 1950’s, it was the only unit at the time to receive orders directly from the IDF general staff. Needless to say, the unit was a success.

6: It took Sharon to stop the Palestinian War of Terror against Israeli civilians in the Second Intifada.

Via Wikipedia

Sharon ordered Operation Defensive Shield to uproot Palestinian terror infrastructure in the West Bank. The Operation was an immediate success, with a 70 percent drop in suicide bombings.

7: Sharon built a fence that saved lives.

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Sharon’s move as Prime Minister to construct the West Bank security barrier is widely credited with the drastic reduction in terror attacks against Israel over the past decade.

8: Sharon built hundreds of thousands of homes for Russian immigrants.

Via pbase.com

9: Sharon led an armored unit in the Six Day War that collapsed Egypt's lines in less than 24 hours.

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Late on June 5, 1967, Ariel Sharon led an attack that pierced Egypt's defensive lines in Abu Ageila and let Israeli armored troops through. On June 6, the Egyptian armored forces collapsed. During the battle, the Egyptian army suffered 100 casualties for every casualty suffered by Sharon’s forces.