Two whole days passed between when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to Tel Aviv’s Dolphinarium club in June 2001 until then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon issued his first statement about the incident. That attack has been etched into Israel’s collective memory as one of the most brutal events of the second intifada. The victims were young people who had gone out to party on a Friday night. The incident left 21 dead and many dozens injured. Meanwhile, people across the country felt a deep sense of vulnerability. They were starting to think that the government was helpless in the face of this terrorist threat.

Sharon was elected prime minister in February 2001, less than half a year after the second intifada erupted. Until then, he made a point of not visiting the sites of terror attacks, not responding off the cuff with aggressive language and not getting dragged into rash military operations. As the wave of attacks continued, the public grew increasingly critical of the prime minister. This was especially apparent among Sharon’s base of supporters on the right.

Nevertheless, as was the case of the Dolphinarium attack, Sharon refused to be distracted or break habit. He remained restrained, even as criticism of him and his policies soared to new heights and his popularity plummeted in the polls.

"I don’t believe in talk," he said at a press conference after visiting the wounded in Ichilov Hospital. “I don’t believe in public statements. I believe in action.” In response to the criticism he was drawing from the right, he made do with a very simple statement that has since come to exemplify his particular leadership style: “Restraint is also part of being strong.” Many months would pass. There would be more deadly suicide attacks, culminating in the March 2002 attack on families celebrating the Passover eve Seder meal at the Park Hotel in Tel Aviv, where 30 Israelis were killed, before Sharon sent the Israel Defense Forces into the territories in Operation Defensive Shield.