Vice President Biden early Monday eulogized former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, remembering a “complex man” whose life embodied Israel’s journey while reaffirming the U.S.’s “unflagging” commitment to Israel.
{mosads}Biden quoted Shakespeare, James Joyce, the Book of Genesis and Sharon himself, according to a pool report. Biden said the loss of Sharon was like a death in the family to Israelis and many people in the U.S.
“Like all historic leaders, Prime Minister Sharon was a complex man,” Biden said. “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.”
Sharon “never, never, never deviated” from his “preoccupation” with the security of Israel, Biden added.