Former President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres died last night at Sheba Medical Center at the age of 93.
“Today, with deep sorrow, we bid farewell to our beloved father, the ninth president of Israel, Shimon Peres. He was one of the founding fathers of the state of Israel and served our people before we even had a country of our own. He worked tirelessly for Israel from the very first day of the state to the last day of his life.” / “Our father’s legacy has always been the future. ‘Look to tomorrow’ he told us, ‘Build Israel’s future with courage and with wisdom and always continue to strive for peace’. We were privileged to have been part of his private family but today we sense that the entire nation of Israel and the global community mourn his great loss. We share this pain together,” eulogized Chemi Peres, Son of Former President Shimon Peres.
Shimon Peres was part of almost every major development in Israel since the country’s founding in 1948. He served as a Member of Knesset for about 50 years, as a minister in eight governments, as the eighth prime minister, and as the ninth president of the State of Israel.
“With all the citizens of Israel with all the Jewish people and many other people around the world I bow my head in the memory of our beloved Shimon Peres may he rest in peace. Shimon Peres dedicated his life to the independence of our people. As a man of vision he gazed into the future. As a man of security he reinforced Israel in many ways some of which even today remain unveiled. As a man of peace he was active to his last day in reconciliation with our neighbors for a better future for our children. In the seven years he served as president he has done a great deal to unify the people, and the people reciprocated with great love. There are not many people in our history that have given so much to the state of Israel and to the Israeli people,” eulogized Netanyahu.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a special cabinet meeting in memory of Shimon Peres, during which he stressed the significance of the long-time Israeli statesman who was part of Israel’s leadership for more than 70 years. In Jerusalem, Israeli residents mourned Shimon Peres, whom they said was a great loss for the Jewish state.
“It’s a huge passing of an era. He is the last of the people who were around when the state started. Over the years he didn’t get credit frankly for all the good things he did. People forget about the fact that he founded Israel’s aircraft industries and represented us incredibly well in the world, was a recipient of the Nobel Prize foremost in trying to find peace agreement with Palestinians. It will be very very difficult to replace what he has done for us and the kind of person he was,” said a resident in Jerusalem. “I have mixed feelings for him but he was one of not many politicians that have visions. Not with all of his visions I agree especially with his peace vision which was a failure.” / “Shimon Peres was a man that I respected for a long time, today in the world everything seems to have gone crazy but he was a step above politicians today. He was a man of peace there were some things that I didn’t agree with that he had as an opinion but overall he was statesman instead of a politician and those kind of people are very rare today,” expressed resident of Tel-Aviv.
Leaders around the world eulogized Peres for his life’s work, with many of them announcing they will attend the funeral of the former Israeli President, scheduled for Friday, including President Barack Obama, Pope Francis and many others.