Netanyahu lauds ‘beloved’ Peres, a ‘man of vision’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said he mourned the passing of “our beloved” former president Shimon Peres, who died early Wednesday morning, aged 93.

Netanyahu said he bowed his head “together with all the citizens of Israel, the Jewish People and many others throughout the world” in memory of Peres, “dedicated his life to the independence of our people.”

“As a man of vision, he looked to the future,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “As a man of security, he strengthened Israel’s power in many ways, some of which remain unknown to this day. As a man of peace, he worked until his final days for reconciliation with our neighbors and for a better future for our children.”

Netanyahu said he first met Peres at the grave of his brother Yoni Netanyahu, an elite officer killed during an operation to release Israeli hostages at Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976. “I will never forget his warmth toward me, toward my brother Ido, and toward my parents of blessed memory, in our moments of grief.”

He added: “Shimon Peres’s name will be etched forever in the book about the rebirth of the Jewish People, as one of the great leaders of the State of Israel, and as one of the founding fathers who established the State of Israel.”

A special cabinet meeting in honor of Peres Wednesday morning began with a minute’s silence in Peres’s memory.

President Reuven Rivlin, who was set to return from a state visit to Ukraine on Wednesday, said: “A short distance from where I am visiting in Ukraine, in the city of Vishnyeva, Belarus, was born Szymon Perski, who grew to be a young man with great dreams. From here, from Eastern Europe, he emigrated to the land of Israel, and ever since never ceased to work for the sake of the Zionist movement, for the sake of the State of Israel, and the people of Israel.”

“Shimon made us look far into the future, and we loved him. We loved him because he made us dare to imagine not what was once here, nor what is now, but what could be,” Rivlin said.

“There is not a chapter in the history of the State of Israel in which Shimon did not write or play a part. As one man he carried a whole nation on the wings of imagination, on the wings of vision.”

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said Peres was “the person who saw everything. He is the story of the Jewish People and of the State of Israel… a proud model Zionist, who strove to serve the state and its citizens all of his life.”

Peres always looked for new opportunities to lead Israel to a better place, Edelstein said. He was “a man of insight, experience and vision,” whose work would influence generations to come.”

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) described Peres as “one of the pillars of the State of Israel, one who accompanied its creation, its campaign for security and economic independence, and its continuing striving for peace.“ Peres had shown “creativity, determination and faith,” spurring the country to new heights in all fields.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, who leads the Yisrael Beytenu party, said that despite his differences of opinion with Peres, they met often in recent years to talk about Israel’s future. He said he would miss the former president “as one of the founders of the state and as a person.”

Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) described Peres as his own education minister for “writing history with his own hand.” Bennett recalled Peres’s vision for Israel to “export the country’s greatest asset – the Jewish mind.“

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) said Peres had succeeded in bringing together disparate segments of Israeli society and in raising Israel’s international standing among world leaders.

Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev (Likud) said she admired Peres’s vision, energy and strength, despite their different political views.

Peres was a “Zionist innovator, who was not satisfied with the present but always acted to change the future,” said Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home).

Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) said the statesman had contacted him two years into his presidency, and after that, the two met every few months, always at Peres’s invitation.

The conversations were always “fascinating and in-depth, challenging and original,” and “after all the long and riveting arguments, I would leave captivated and excited by [Peres’s] originality, sharpness, thought and broad perspective.”

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog said there were “no words” to describe the statesman’s contribution to Israel’s security and deterrence, his determined struggle against terrorism and relentless pursuit of peace, his work toward economic and social empowerment and toward strengthening its international status and his support of the country as a nation of innovation and courage.

Peres was “present, even in death,” said opposition Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid. “He’s present because we are surrounded by the results of his work. The security service, the Dimona [nuclear] facility, Israeli democracy, our international standing, all the essential elements with which Israel was built.”

Lapid said Peres had taught everyone a lesson in leadership. “He taught us that real leaders are measured not only by the way in which they stand up to the enemy but also – and maybe mainly – by the way they stand up to their people… and tell them everything, including the parts that they don’t want to hear. It wasn’t always easy. His political career was full of disappointments, but he remained faithful to himself, to his beliefs, and mainly to the state to which he dedicated his life.”

Zehava Galon, head of the opposition Meretz party, said the scale of Peres’s contributions was “almost incomprehensible” and that many of his decisions had shaped Israel, “for good and for bad. From the settlements, through the nuclear facility at Dimona, and to the Oslo [peace] accords.“

The Yesha Council, the umbrella organization for the West Bank settlements, focused on Peres’s “great contribution” to the laying of a defense infrastructure for Israel and “to the beginning of Jewish settlement in Samaria.”

Israel Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich said 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,” Alsheich said in a statement. “The Israel Police extends its condolences to the bereaved family and to the entire nation for the loss of one of the nation’s greats.”