Natan Sharansky: Hero ‘Refusenik’ Who Spent Nine Years in Soviet Prisons

Natan Sharansky (72) is a modern-day hero of the Jewish people: In the 1970s and 1980s, he was a prominent Soviet refusenik — mostly Jews who were denied permission to emigrate to Israel or elsewhere. Sharansky spent nine years in Soviet prisons under very harsh conditions until he was allowed to leave in 1986.
 
Since then he served as Chair of the Executive of the Jewish Agency from June 2009 to August 2018. He also served several terms as a member of the Knesset and held a number of important positions in the Israeli government. Currently, Sharansky is chairman of the Institute of the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP).
 
Quotes: “I am optimistic that peace can be achieved in the region because I believe that every society on earth can be free and that if freedom comes to the Middle East, there can be peace.” | “When we are unwilling to draw clear moral lines between free societies and fear societies, when we are unwilling to call the former good and the latter evil, we will not be able to advance the cause of peace because peace cannot be disconnected from freedom.”
 
Sources: Wikipedia, BrainyQuote
 
Learn more about Natan Sharansky on Wikipedia. >>
 
Watch “Natan Sharansky and The Jewish Agency for Israel” [4:54]. >>
 
Watch “Fear No Evil With Natan Sharansky” [45:04]. >>
 
Photo: Los Angeles Times