Ariel Sharon(1928 — 2014)

Nicknamed “the Bulldozer” for his determination and his go-getter attitude, Ariel Sharon was also called “the Lion of God,” because his first name Ariel means “lion of God” in Hebrew. These nicknames summed up his image as a man of action whom nothing seemed able to stop.

During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Sharon led his tanks across the Suez Canal to encircle the Egyptian Third Army. He fought with his head bandaged, wounded in the forehead, which strengthened his legend as a heroic and impetuous general among Israeli soldiers.

Before entering politics, Sharon was a farmer and adored his farm in the Negev, named “Sycamore Ranch.” This attachment to the land contrasted with his warrior image: he loved tending to his livestock and often spoke about his farm.

In 2005, it was Sharon himself, long a champion of the settlements, who ordered the withdrawal of all Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip. This decision surprised the entire world and deeply divided his own political camp, pushing him to leave the Likud to found a new party, Kadima.

In January 2006, a severe stroke plunged Sharon into a deep coma. He remained in this state for eight years, kept alive in the hospital, until his death in 2014 — a paradoxical end for a man who had spent his whole life in motion.