Free Republic

Jerusalem - April 27 Israel is a land which lack heros, but yet every Israeli is a hero. For all who live, sweat and work in this Middle-Eastern democratic state, facing sand storms, overdraft and terrorism, one must be a hero. But some cast shadows larger than others. Ezer Weizman was the very definition of a hero. A man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength. A native of Israel, a Sabra, who enjoyed the challenge of flight and dared to speak when others remained silent. Thousands of mourners from Israel and abroad gathered Tuesday to bid farewell to...

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Former Israeli President Ezer Weizman, a flying ace and crack military commander who built up the nation's air force and helped bring about the Jewish state's first peace treaty with an Arab country, has died, Israeli officials said Sunday. He was 80. The Maariv daily newspaper said Weizman died Sunday evening with his family at his bedside. Weizman was president in 1993-2000. In three decades in political life, he made a highly public transition from hawk to dove, saying the Jews had to learn to "share this part of the world" with the Arabs....