Marissa Newman is The Times of Israel political correspondent.
The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s developments as they unfolded.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes a special cabinet meeting in honor of the late former president Shimon Peres.
“This is the State of Israel’s first day without Shimon Peres, one of the great leaders of Israel,” says Netanyahu.
The prime minister says Peres was “a visionary, a man of peace, and he never stopped seeking peace and believing in peace.”
Netanyahu adds that he shares Peres’s vision on Israeli innovation and his desire for peace with the Palestinians.
The ministers hold a moment of silence for Peres.
The following world figures will attend Shimon Peres’s funeral in Jerusalem on Friday, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry:
• US President Barack Obama
• Former US President Bill Clinton and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton
• US Secretary of State John Kerry
• Britain’s Prince Charles
• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
• French President Francois Hollande
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel
• German President Joachim Gauck
• Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto
• Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
— AP
The official Palestinian Authority news agency says Peres was an architect of the settlement movement, was responsible for the deaths of Palestinians, and committed “many crimes.”
The news report by the Wafa agency notes that Peres was also responsible for building the Dimona nuclear reactor.
The PA outlet makes no mention of Peres’s role in the peace process or the Oslo Accords, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
The report only appears in the website’s Arabic-language version. The English news site does not report the former president’s death.
Meanwhile, Hamas media praises Peres’s willingness to cede territory as part of a peace plan.
“Although he was one of the builders of the settlements, he became one of the prominent advocates of peace and spoke frequently about the need for concessions,” it reports, according to a translation by Army Radio.
The daughter of Shimon Peres tells the Walla news website her father penned a book to be published after his death.
Tzivia Walden says it was her father’s wish that he be buried at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl, alongside Israel’s founding leaders.
Former British prime minister David Cameron mourns the passing of Shimon Peres, calling him a “believer in peace” and “a great man.”
One of the founding fathers of Israel and a believer in peace has left us. Today we mourn the loss of a great man.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) September 28, 2016
Israeli author Amos Oz says Peres, whom he describes as a friend, changed his political views dramatically over the years.
“My friend Shimon had a very rare human quality: He had the ability to change.
“When I met Peres in the early 70s, he was in my eyes a banal hawk. Supporting settlers, a settler lover, a security man, the more land the better, the more power the better. He changed before my eyes … into an enthusiastic and stubborn believer in Israeli-Palestinian peace and Israeli-Arab peace,” Oz says.
— AP, Times of Israel staff
A PLO official says he believes a Palestinian delegation will attend Peres’s funeral, according to Army Radio.
“From the Palestinian leadership’s perspective, he was a partner in the peace process,” Ashraf al-Ajrami is quoted as saying.
But according to Israel Radio, which cites Palestinian sources, the PA leadership will not “initiate coming without an invitation from the family.”
“Even Arafat didn’t attend Rabin’s funeral,” the source says.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hails former Israeli statesman Shimon Peres for his “courage and patriotism.”
“I was lucky enough to have the chance to speak with this remarkable person many times. Every time I admired his courage and patriotism, his wisdom and vision, his ability to grasp the essence of the most difficult issues,” Putin says in a message of condolence.
— AFP
The heads of the Mossad and the Israel Atomic Energy Commission praise Peres — a former defense minister credited with building Israel’s nuclear program — for his “enormous” and “significant” contributions to Israel’s security.
“For many years Shimon Peres worked together with the Mossad on operations to ensure Israel’s security, and was one of Israel’s most prominent leaders. He was a symbol of peace and brotherhood and made immense contributions toward strengthening the security of the State of Israel,” says Mossad chief Yossi Cohen in a statement.
Ze’ev Shnir of the IAEC says Peres made a “significant contribution” to Israel’s atomic program.
“Peres’s legacy will accompany the IAEC in its future activities,” he adds.
Singer Barbra Streisand mourns Peres, who she says was a “father figure” to her.
“My heart is bleeding, my tears are falling, because President Shimon Peres is no longer in this world. He was a father figure not only to his beloved country of Israel, but also to me, because he was what I imagined my father would have been like. Shimon’s mind was expansive and his heart was compassionate. He was a brilliant statesman, gifted with the ability to listen to others who did not share his views and still remained determined to find a path forward.
“He was a voice of reason who also happened to have the sensibility of a poet, thoughtful and soft-spoken, but his words echoed loudly around the world. I adored Shimon and I’m so grateful that I was able to spend some time with him over the years, and sing for him at his 90th birthday celebration in Israel. Thank god his spirit, his wisdom, and his ideals will live forever.”
— AP contributed
Hamas expresses happiness at the death of former Israeli President Shimon Peres.
A spokesman for the group, Sami Abu Zuhri, tells The Associated Press Wednesday, “The Palestinian people are very happy at the passing of this criminal who caused their blood to shed.”
He adds, “Shimon Peres was the last remaining Israeli official who founded the occupation, and his death is the end of a phase in the history of this occupation and the beginning of a new phase of weakness.”
Earlier, Hamas media reports praised Peres’s support for territorial concessions.
— AP, Times of Israel staff
The Shin Bet security agency pays tribute to Peres.
“Today, with the passing of Shimon Peres, the Shin Bet salutes one of the most important leaders of the founding generation, a builder of Israel who shaped its culture and with his bare hands laid the groundwork on which the security establishment was built,” Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman says in a statement. “Today, we bid farewell to the man of action, the acclaimed statesman, and the close friend of the Shin Bet.”
The UK Labour party conference honors Peres with a moment of silence, a spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in London writes on Twitter.
עכשיו בועידת מפלגת הלייבור בליברפול, עומדים לדקת דומייה לזכרו של שמעון פרס #Lab16 pic.twitter.com/I4noy5D4cH
— Yiftah Curiel (@yiftahc) September 28, 2016
https://twitter.com/ellarachelrose/status/781076847169863680
Peres’s funeral will begin on Friday at 8:30 a.m., when his body will be transferred from the Knesset to the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem.
Eulogies will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the cemetery. At noon, the burial ceremony will be held. The funeral is expected to end at 1:30 p.m.
On Thursday, Peres’s body will lie in state at the Knesset from 8:45 a.m. to 9 p.m. The public is invited to the Knesset to pay their last respects. The memorial will open on Thursday morning with Netanyahu, Rivlin, and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein laying wreaths on the coffin.
The Clinton campaign denies the Democratic presidential nominee will attend Peres’s funeral on Friday, according to an ABC News reporter.
Clinton camp says reports Hillary Clinton will attend Shimon Peres' funeral on Friday are incorrect.
— Liz Kreutz (@LizKreutzNews) September 28, 2016
PA President Mahmoud Abbas sends a letter of condolence to Peres’s family, praising the late former president as a partner for peace, the official Wafa news agency reports.
The Israel Police holds a special meeting on the security arrangements for the Peres funeral, in preparations it describes as “complex.”
Hundreds of police officers will be deployed to secure the event, it says in a statement.
Police say there may be traffic delays on Highway 1 for drivers heading to Jerusalem on Thursday and Friday. Police say they will update the traffic information in the coming days.
In his condolences, Abbas hails Shimon Peres as a “brave” partner for peace, the official Palestinian news agency reported.
“Peres was a partner in making the brave peace with the martyr Yasser Arafat and prime minister (Yitzhak) Rabin, and made unremitting efforts to reach a lasting peace from the Oslo agreement until the final moments of his life,” the letter says, according to the Wafa news agency.
— AFP contributed
“Peres was always driven by a deep sense of responsibility toward the entire Jewish people. He concerned himself with the fate and future of the entire nation, but also with each of its sons and daughters, both near and far,” Natan Sharansky, head of the Jewish Agency for Israel, says.
Sharansky recalls that Peres was “the first Israeli” he saw when he arrived from Russia after his many years in prison and that he would always remember the then-prime minister as “the individual who started the Israeli chapter of my life.”
— JTA
Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich says Peres was “a man of vision and action, from his youth until the end of his days.”
“His entire history is closely interwoven with the history of the State of Israel,” says Alsheich. “The Israel Police extends its condolences to the bereaved family and to the entire nation over our loss of one of the nation’s greats.”
US Vice President Joe Biden issues a lengthy, personal tribute to Peres, whom he calls Israel’s “soul” and a national “treasure.”
Shimon Peres was one of the few men in the world whose experience was surpassed only by his genuine wisdom and his eloquence.
When he talked, everyone listened. And later, long after he’d left the room, you remembered what he said. It crept into your soul and stayed with you. Shimon Peres was truly a force of nature.
Today, we have lost an amazing leader, and a powerful voice for peace and progress in our world. His loss will be felt not only in Israel but all over the world—in every heart he touched, including mine.
It was my great privilege over the past 40 years to benefit from his friendship and his counsel. And each time I met with him, I was struck anew by his incredible compassion, his boundless energy, and his ceaseless curiosity. Even at 93, Shimon was still looking for the next big idea—the next dream to bring to life.
He was part of that exceptional generation of founders—the men and women who recognized the necessity for a Jewish State of Israel and then willed it into existence, despite overwhelming odds.
There was never any inevitability to the success of Israel. Only the iron-clad determination of those who made it so. Ben-Gurion. Meir. Begin. Rabin. And the youngest among them, a kid still in his early 20s named Shimon Peres, who would go on to dedicate his life and his service to Israel for 70 more years.
He was a treasure. He held every office. Earned every award and recognition—including America’s highest civilian honors.
And he never stopped serving. He didn’t know the meaning of the word quit.
He made sure Israel was strong and secure—so that Israel could always defend herself. And then he worked tirelessly to make Israel stronger through his unwavering commitment to peace. The last time I sat with Shimon back in March, at his Center for Peace in Tel Aviv, he said “we gave up war, because war led nowhere.”
Every nation has a soul—someone who embodies the spirit of a people.
And for so many years, Shimon Peres was the soul of Israel. The world is a little darker without him in it.
Jill and I send our deepest condolences to all the people of Israel. And our prayers go out to his children, Zvia, Yoni, and Chemi, and their families. May his memory continue to be a blessing to us all.
The Anti Defamation League calls Peres “the diplomatic, political and social innovation face of Israel over a seven-decade career.”
“His moderation and insight not only drew world leaders and dignitaries to meet and consult with him, but also served Israel in its ongoing fight against delegitimization and other anti-Israel forces,” Marvin Nathan, ADL National Chair, and Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO say in a statement.
They marvel that Peres had recently taken up skydiving alongside his work to “promote social innovation and new advanced technologies for international social change and the greater good.”
Bnai Brith International praises his “myriad accomplishments.”
“The history of the State of Israel cannot be written without including Peres and his myriad accomplishments during a nearly 70-year career in public service,” Bnai Brith International says in a statement.
— JTA, Times of Israel staff
US National Security Advisor Susan Rice says Peres was “vibrant, courageous, determined” — just like the State of Israel.
“I am deeply saddened by the passing of former President Shimon Peres, Israel’s national treasure and one of its last remaining founders. A son of the shtetl who rose to become one of the world’s most beloved and respected statesmen, President Peres’ life was the life of the state of Israel—vibrant, courageous, determined,” she says in a statement.
“He was dreamer and a doer, working to make the desert bloom and build the state of Israel brick by brick. He was a warrior who helped secure Israel against its adversaries and a peacemaker who knew, as he liked to say, that there are no hopeless situations, only hopeless people—falling ill 23 years to the day that he joined President Clinton, Prime Minister Rabin, and Yasir Arafat for that historic handshake on the White House lawn.”
“The unbreakable alliance between the United States and Israel stands as an enduring tribute to President Peres’ years of diplomacy and eloquent advocacy on Israel’s behalf. I’m proud to have called him a cherished friend, a wise and steadying presence during difficult times,” she says.
The South African government says Peres “is of the rare breed of politicians that allowed reason to transform his thinking on the question of Palestinian Statehood.”
In a statement, the government says Peres “will be fondly remembered for his unwavering commitment to the two-state solution with Palestine, which unfortunately is still to be achieved.”
“As we remember Mr. Peres, we call on both the Israelis and Palestinians to return to genuine negotiations in order to accomplish and realize the vision that Presidents [sic] Arafat, Rabin, and Peres started in Oslo more than twenty years ago. This will be a fitting tribute to the life and memory of President Peres.”
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the New York-based Union for Reform Judaism, says Peres “was a tough minded lover of peace who understood that Israel lives in a dangerous neighborhood and must have the deterrence it needs, but that in the end, the best deterrence is hope for a better tomorrow, and promoting the wisdom and creativity of the Israeli people on the world stage, while also ensuring that Israel engages significantly in a global arena.”
“We have truly lost a giant, but we have not lost the resolve to continue to dream and to continue to strive for an Israel that lives side by side with its neighbors, in peace and with justice,” Jacobs says.
The Orthodox Union calls Peres “a beacon of light in times of darkness for our people. … As someone who built lasting bridges across the secular-religious divide in Israeli society, Peres knew intimately the importance of Israel’s Jewish identity in the state’s vibrant character. His legacy inspires us to continue doing our work, ensuring a strong Jewish future with a strong Jewish state.”
— JTA
US Senator Lindsey Graham will unveil proposed legislation to hinge US support for the Palestinian Authority on its ending financial payments to Palestinian terrorists.
Graham will hold a press conference at 11:30 a.m. to unveil the proposal, which he has named for US citizen Taylor Force, who was stabbed to death in Tel Aviv earlier this year.
Tomorrow, I'll unveil legislation cutting off funding to the Palestinian Authority if they continue to pay rewards for terrorist acts.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) September 28, 2016
Holding press conference at 11:30 am this morning in Washington to introduce the Taylor Force Act.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) September 28, 2016
Legislation requires SecofState to certify Palestinian Authority has ended policy of paying monetary rewards to terrorists & family members.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) September 28, 2016
A Jerusalem planning committee was scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss housing units in the Gilo neighborhood, which is over the Green Line, but postponed the meeting due to US President Barack Obama’s expected visit on Friday to attend Peres’s funeral, the Ynet news website reports.
The planning and building committee was set to debate approving 76 housing units in Gilo, the report says.
Pope Francis sends condolences to President Reuven Rivlin over the death of former president Peres.
“As the State of Israel mourns Mr. Peres, I hope that his memory and many years of service will inspire us all to work with ever greater urgency for peace and reconciliation between peoples. In this way, his legacy will truly be honored and the common good for which he so diligently labored will find new expressions, as humanity strives to advance on the path towards enduring peace,” he writes, according to the Vatican.
The Hamas terror group urges Palestinians to hold a “day of rage” on Friday to mark the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the terror wave, Army Radio reports.
The planned “day of rage” coincides with Peres’s funeral.
Queen Elizabeth II says she was “greatly saddened” to hear of Peres’s death.
“The Queen was greatly saddened to learn of the death of Shimon Peres today. Her Majesty warmly recalls her meeting with Mr. Peres in 2008, and sends her heartfelt condolences to his family and the people of Israel at this sad time,” a statement from Buckingham Palace says.
She confirms that Prince Charles will attend the funeral.
Italy’s foreign minister, recalling Shimon Peres as a “tireless supporter” of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is hailing the late Israeli leader as a “symbol of peace.”
Paolo Gentiloni says Peres “is the history of Israel, from a young immigrant to an elderly president, a Nobel prize winner, a symbol of peace of this country.”
Italian Premier Matteo Renzi notes he had met Peres earlier this month at the annual political and economic gathering in Cernobbio, northern Italy. He says “we all recall him with affection and gratitude.”
— AP
The following world figures have confirmed attendance at Shimon Peres’ funeral in Jerusalem on Friday:
Earlier reports said Hillary Clinton would attend, but her campaign has disputed this. US President Barack Obama will also reportedly come for the Friday burial, though the White House has yet to confirm.
— AP, Times of Israel staff
Former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz tells Army Radio that Peres “knew everything that went on here.”
“Sitting with Peres was like sitting with a talking encyclopedia,” he says. “He was a man who understood and knew everything that went on here.”
Gantz served as IDF chief of staff when Peres was president.
Channel 2 reports that the entrance to Jerusalem will be closed on and off on Friday morning.
The area around Mount Herzl will be closed until 2 p.m.
On Thursday, the streets around the Knesset will be blocked.
French President Francois Hollande and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy have confirmed they will attend Peres’s funeral. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and President of the European Council Donald Tusk have also confirmed they will come. German President Joachim Gauck will attend, but Chancellor Merkel will not.
Some 78 world leaders and dignitaries are tentatively scheduled to attend the ceremony in Jerusalem.
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and NY Governor Andrew Cuomo are among the 78 people on the “tentative” list.
According to the Walla news site, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales will attend.
The Knesset flies the Israeli flag at half-mast to honor Peres.
Starting tomorrow, all Israeli government buildings and embassies around the world will lower the Israeli flag to half-mast.
הדגלים ברחבת הכנסת הורדו לחצי התורן; היו"ר אדלשטיין: הייתי אופטימי בביקורו, משוכנע שישב כמו תמיד במליאה בפתיחת המושב https://t.co/ekwsaLor0b pic.twitter.com/vka4qGovOy
— הכנסת – The Knesset (@KnessetIL) September 28, 2016
AIPAC calls Peres “an indefatigable advocate for justice and human progress,” and says his legacy “will live on through the many good deeds he accomplished, the countless lives he enriched, and the commitment to the Jewish state he inspired in so many.”
— JTA
In Ukraine, WJC President Ron Lauder pays tribute to Shimon Peres at a press conference for the memorial events commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Babi Yar massacres.
“Today Israel has lost one its founding fathers. In many ways Shimon Peres was the moral compass of Israel; he believed very strongly in the State of Israel and what it symbolized. Born in Poland and coming to Israel as a young man, he understood what Israel symbolized to the Jewish people. That it is our homeland, a place that we all feel very close to. Peres believed two things; that Israel should be strong and protect itself, and also firmly believed in a two-state solution.
“He did not see his dream of a two-state solution [come to fruition], but he did see his dream of a strong Israel, a place where Jews all around the world call their home.”
“We mourn his passing, and remember his teaching.”
— Tamar Pileggi
One of the mediators who helped broker the 1993 Oslo Peace Accord remembers Shimon Peres as a charismatic leader who saw peace with the Palestinians as key to Israel’s future.
“He had the kind of visionary leadership that today’s generation of more introverted and narrow-sighted Israeli politicians really lack,” says Jan Egeland, who is now secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Egeland, who was state secretary in Norway’s Foreign Ministry at the time, met Peres on several occasions during the top secret negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Oslo in the early 1990s.
“I found him very charismatic, a very strong personality,” Egeland tells The Associated Press by phone on Wednesday. “He spoke of peace with the Palestinians throughout the process in very visionary terms.”
Egeland says Peres, who was Israeli foreign minister 1992-1995, “loved the smoke and mirrors” of the covert talks in Oslo.
Egeland says he was impressed by Peres’ sense of humor and his talent as a speaker, both in public and in small group settings.
“But he was also a tough guy,” Egeland says, recalling the furious response he got after condemning the Israeli shelling of a UN refugee camp in southern Lebanon in 1996. Israel said the attack was a mistake and that its gunners had been aiming at nearby rocket launchers of Hezbollah guerrillas.
“I called it a massacre, and he got very angry with me,” Egeland says. “But not long after we were friends again.”
He calls Peres an “uncompromising defender of Israel in every sense,” but one who found it in Israel’s interest “to not create new generations of hatred” among its Palestinian and Arab neighbors.
“Today’s generation of Israeli leaders is not able to see that,” Egeland says. “And they and their children may live to regret it.”
— AP
Residents of the town of Vishnyeva in Belarus gather outside the childhood home of Shimon Peres to pay their respects to the elder Israeli statesman, according to a press release from Limmud FSU.
“Shimon Peres brought pride to our village through his life and accomplishments and we felt obliged to pay our respects following his death,” says Oleg Demidchik, 63. “We are humbled that he is from our town and we will never forget this.”
Republican nominee Donald Trump’s running mate Mike Pence says “the world will miss” Shimon Peres, who “showed equal courage in war and peace.”
Today Israel lost a visionary, and the world lost a great statesman. Peres personified courage in the face of battle & in pursuit of peace.
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) September 28, 2016
Fulfilling Prophet Joel, "Your old men shall dream dreams," Shimon Peres showed equal courage in war and peace. The world will miss him.
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) September 28, 2016
Trump extends his condolences to Peres’s family and lauds the “dignity and grace” of Israel’s last founding father.
“Melania and I extend our deepest condolences to the family of Shimon Peres on the passing of their beloved father, grandfather and great-grandfather. On the world stage, Shimon Peres was a visible and highly effective patriarch to another, much larger family — the people of Israel, whom he led as prime minister and president,” he says in a statement.
“Shimon Peres’ life always pointed toward peace. Bearing witness to more than his share of war and its human toll, Shimon Peres devoted his leadership skills to cultivating peace between Israel and her Arab neighbors. He was a consummate statesman, a distinguished patriot and a friend of peace-loving people everywhere. With his hand outstretched in peace and friendship, Shimon Peres personified dignity and grace in a region of the world where both run far too short. May he rest in peace.”
The Senate acts decisively Wednesday to override President Barack Obama’s veto of September 11 legislation, setting the stage for the contentious bill to become law despite flaws that Obama and top Pentagon officials warn could put US troops and interests at risk.
Five weeks before elections, lawmakers refused to oppose a measure backed by 9/11 families who say they are still seeking justice 15 years after the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. The bill permits them to sue the government of Saudi Arabia for the kingdom’s alleged backing of the 19 hijackers who carried out the plot. Saudi Arabia is staunchly opposed to the measure.
Senators vote 97-1 to override Obama’s veto. The lone “no” vote was Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
A House vote on Obama’s veto is expected later in the day Wednesday. If the House also overrides, the bill becomes law. During his nearly two terms in office, Obama has never had a veto overridden by Congress.
Despite reversing Obama’s decision, several senators say defects in the bill could open a legal Pandora’s box, triggering lawsuits from people in other countries seeking redress for injuries or deaths caused by military actions in which the US may have had a role.
— AP
US Secretary of State John Kerry says Peres was a “dear friend” and a “warrior for peace.”
https://twitter.com/JohnKerry/status/781173373309190144
Channel 2 reports that Bill Clinton will be first to arrive at Ben Gurion Airport on Thursday.
Some 50 private jets carrying world leaders will land at Israel’s airport throughout the day.
US President Barack Obama will land Friday morning, the TV report says.
Overall, some 95,000 passengers will be passing through Ben Gurion Airport Thursday, including 40,000 pilgrims heading to Ukraine for the Rosh Hashanah holidays, Channel 2 announces.
The White House says Obama is interested in attending Peres’s funeral, but can’t confirm he will, according to AP’s White House correspondent.
White House says Obama wants to attend Peres funeral but still not confirming he's going. Israel announced 10 hours ago that Obama is going
— Josh Lederman (@thejoshlederman) September 28, 2016
NY governor Andrew Cuomo confirms he will attend Peres’s funeral.
“New York is home to more than 1.7 million Jews — the largest Jewish community outside of Israel in the world — and the community is mourning the loss of a larger-than-life figure,” he says in a statement.
“Former President Shimon Peres was a leader and a statesman, and an especially wonderful friend to all of us. He will be missed dearly. Tomorrow, I will be traveling to Israel for President Peres’ funeral to pay my respects on behalf of all New Yorkers. New York has always had a special relationship with Israel, and this trip will ensure that our state has an opportunity to say goodbye to President Peres and honor his devotion to the people of Israel and Jews across the world.”
The local Sheriff’s Office is reporting a shooting at Townville Elementary School in South Carolina.
Fox 10 television says there are at least two victims, but does not specify whether they are fatalities.
The shooter is in custody, the report says.
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