Most World Leaders Offer Sharon Compassion

PARIS - From Japan to the Atlantic, world leaders praised and worried about Ariel Sharon on Thursday — a remarkable outpouring for a man not long ago seen as a threat to the Middle East.

Even the Arab world was relatively benign toward the Israeli prime minister, with anxiety about the future overshadowing pockets of jubilation. European leaders showed unusual unity in their praise, reflecting a shift in the continent's attitude toward Sharon, driven in part by its own recent experiences with Islamic terrorism.

In the Arab world, some Palestinian and Arab hard-liners rejoiced over Sharon's stroke — and one even called it a gift from God. But Arab media were largely restrained, with Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite channels, carrying extensive and mainly straightforward reporting.

Palestinian commentator Ghazi al-Saadi told Al-Arabiya that: "A live Sharon is better for the Palestinians now, despite all the crimes he has committed against us."

Europe's experience with Islamic terrorism in recent years has also slightly shifted European sentiments toward the Middle East. Train bombings in Madrid in 2004 killed 191 people; suicide bombers struck London's transit system in July, killing 52 people.

"We are not at the point where we would use the measures Israel does, but we understand them better," said Francois Gere, president of the French Institute for Strategic Analysis. (Complete Article)

Of course, there was some of the usual nastiness from the places one would expect:

Iran's president said Thursday he hoped for the death of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the latest anti-Israeli comment by a leader who has already provoked international criticism for suggesting that Israel be "wiped off the map."

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack termed Ahmadinejad's remarks "hateful and disgusting."

"And this is a man who wraps himself in the cloak of a peaceful religion, Islam, and yet you hear remarks like this coming from him," McCormack said. "This regime has isolated the Iranian people from the rest of the world in a matter of months — through its actions and its statements."

In the last two months, Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust a "myth" and said if Europeans insist it did occur, then they should give some of their own land for a Jewish state, rather than the one in the Middle East. He also called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

And, despite the fact that Sharon was the one who finally decided to withdraw from Gaza and unconditionally give it to the Palestinians, as they did on 911 as well as on numerous other occasions, they expressed opinions similar to that of Iran's Ahmadinejad-- showing their joy at others suffering:

Photo: A Palestinian boy takes part in a celebration after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's sudden collapse, in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip January 5, 2006. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

Boker tov, Boulder! has this photo as well as several other related photos on his website. (HT: LGF).

(Cross-posted on A Deeper Look)