Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife expressed their condolences early Wednesday morning at the passing of Israel’s ninth president and internationally cherished diplomat emeritus Shimon Peres.
Few are the people in Israel’s history who have done as much for the state and the Jewish people as Shimon Peres, Netanyahu said in a statement released just before a special cabinet meeting he is convening to honor the former president.
“Like all the citizens of Israel, the whole Jewish people, and many in the world, I bow my head in memory of our beloved Shimon Peres,” he said in a statement.
Peres, who dedicated his life to Israel’s independence, was a visionary who looked to the future, Netanyahu said. But he was also a man for whom security was utmost in his mind, and who buttressed the country’s security capacities in many ways, some of which are still not publicly known to this day.
And as a man of peace, Netanyahu said, “he worked until his last days toward reconciliation with our neighbors for a better future for our children.”
Netanyahu’s said that the first time he met Peres was 40 years ago at the grave site of his brother, Yoni, killed in the 1976 Entebbe raid.
“I will never forget his warmth towards me, my brother Ido, and my parents in our time of grief,” he said.
Netanyahu — who for many years was a bitter political rival of Peres and defeated him in the 1996 elections, but in the end worked closely with him when the later was president — said that Peres’ name will be forever etched in the memory of the the nation “as one of Israel’s great leaders, and one of the founding fathers who established the State of Israel.”
Israeli politicians who woke up to the news, immediately began to issue statements in his honor.
“Shimon Peres was an unbreakable part of the State of Israel’s history, from its creation until today,” Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) stated.
“We both served in Sharon’s second Government and although we had our differences I always appreciated his wisdom and will to make Israel a better place for its people.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) said that “departing from Shimon Peres is a sad departure from a man of vision who always looked ahead to tomorrow. He was a leader who belonged to the generation who established our country and worked tirelessly for our people.”
“Even those who disagreed with him politically looked up to him and admired his determination for peace and constant renewal through which he lived his life. Even in his biological age he was young in spirit and never gave up his hope to change the world.”
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