This week in power: Sharon’s death and Berlin brawl

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Sharon legacy
After many years of a much-watched coma, Ariel Sharon passed away last weekend, leading to an assortment of reactions to the former prime minister's life from around the world. “If Mr. Sharon had not had a stroke in 2006, which led, ultimately, to his death on Saturday, he would most likely have reached a peace agreement with the Palestinians. And he would have used his powerful personality and irresistible drive, as well as the widespread affection he had acquired among his people, to force the right-wing settler movement to accept it,” ” target=”_blank”>countered Raja Shehadeh at The New Yorker.

“Whatever else Sharon was, he proved himself capable of being a statesman,” ” target=”_blank”>said the Chicago Tribune in an editorial, the future looks bleak: “The path to peace, to safeguarding Israel — Sharon's mission — is as steep as ever.”

Berlin infighting
“The ugly scene, described in interviews with witnesses and seen on an Internet video, is indicative of a Berlin Jewish community in crisis — riven by cultural rivalries, its finances under official scrutiny. It's hard to say who is at fault, but the feuding is fed at least in part by a clash between an old guard of German Jews dating to before World War II, and a growing presence of relative newcomers from the former Soviet Union,” ” target=”_blank”>added Israel Hayom. “While the financial irregularities are certainly troubling, the cultural tensions dividing the community are also cause for concern. The notion of dueling factions of Jews in Germany in 2014 is a unsettling reality to consider, but it appears to be the case,”