Sharansky to Retire From Israel Politics

[Englander]

By MATTI FRIEDMAN

Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) - Natan Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident and a favorite of President Bush, will retire from Israeli politics, an aide said Wednesday.

>snip

He will not speak publicly until he meets Sunday with Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, she said. Sharansky is a Likud member of parliament and former Cabinet minister.

Israel Radio reported Sharansky will become a research fellow at the Shalem Center, a conservative Jerusalem think tank. A spokesman for the center would not confirm the report.

In the 1970s, while known as Anatoly Shcharansky, he became the symbol of the struggle of Soviet Jews to be allowed to emigrate to Israel, serving nine years in a Soviet labor camp before realizing his dream in 1986.

In Israel, he took a hard line against the Arabs and became a champion for the rights of Soviet immigrants, entering politics in 1996 at the head of an immigrants' party. But although his international renown never translated into star political power in Israel, he served in various Cabinets, pushing his hawkish agenda, and later merging his party with the hard-line Likud.

More at;
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[Kagemusha]

1. I always wished this guy wouldn't spend his freedom denying that of others

Seems to me like he got his wish only to work hard to take away someone else's.

[shergald]

2. Sharansky was a disappointment, in this regard.

He fought Soviet repression, then advocated for Russian Jews to be free to emigrate to Israel. Everything he worked for after arriving in Israel contributed to the repression of Palestinian rights. Sad turnabout.

[IntiRaymi]

3. Pretty blatant example of israeli chauvinism.

But, then again, a stupid right wing exists in pretty much any country.

[legin]

4. I think i've suggested before down here

that I thought that Sharansky's fight against Soviet oppression was not a fight against injustice, but more a fight for social mobility, i.e. he didn't want to be at the bottom getting it in the neck from Soviet officials, he wanted to be up the top dishing it out.

[legin]

5. Anyway good riddence to the bastard

asuming of course that he actually is going, and this isn't just some stunt.