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Photo: Haim Ziv
Uri Dan
Photo: Haim Ziv

Journalist Uri Dan dies at 71

Former ‘Bamahane’ writer, close friend of former PM Sharon passes away Saturday night

Uri Dan, who was a journalist for many years as well as a close advisor of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, died early Sunday morning at the age of 71.

 

Dan suffered from cancer and passed away at Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba. “I smoked too much,” he once said of himself.

 

Dan was a writer for the Israel Defense Forces magazine “Bamahane” starting from the mid 70’s, and later began writing and commentating for “This World” and “Maariv”.


Uri Dan with former Prime Minister Sharon (Photo: GPO)

 

During the Yom Kippur War, Dan joined Ariel Sharon’s division and closely covered the actions of who would later become minister and prime minister. Dan has been considered one of Sharon’s closest advisors since then.

 

In May 2005, a large surprise party was thrown for Dan in Herzliya. Amongst the guests was Sharon who hugged Dan and said, “Uri is a true friend, dedicated and limitlessly loyal. He has the heart of a poet that feels the future in his fingertips.”

 

Sharon and Dan met in the fifties, even before the war began. Dan is the one who coined the familiar phrase, “Those who don’t want him as IDF chief of staff shall have him as defense minister, and those who don’t want him as defense minister shall have him as prime minister.”

 

Sharon responded and said, “That was a prophecy I didn’t believe.

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.24.06, 11:13
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