Israeli politicians mourn loss of ‘the head of a family’

Israeli politicians reacted with grief and sorrow Wednesday morning to the passing in hospital overnight Tuesday-Wednesday of former president and prime minister Shimon Peres, the last of Israel’s founding fathers.

Peres, 93, died in his sleep at 3:00 a.m. Wednesday at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer Hospital, surrounded by family.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and his wife Sara wanted to convey their “deep personal sadness on the passing of a beloved man of this nation, former Israeli president Shimon Peres.”

Netanyahu will hold a special cabinet session Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. to mourn Peres, his office said.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) said Peres’s death was “a sad day for Israel.”

Despite the political differences, the two had met frequently over the past several years, Liberman said in a statement, and held long conversations about the future of the state.

Upon learning of the his predecessor’s passing early Wednesday, President Reuven Rivlin, who was on a state visit to Ukraine where he spoke at a parliamentary session marking the 75th anniversary of the Babi Yar massacre, cut his trip short and headed back to Israel.

“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,” Rivlin said in a statement. “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.

“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. A man who was a symbol for the great spirit of this people. 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,” he said. “This is a sad day for the Israeli people, and the State of Israel.”

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said Peres’s passing was like “losing the head of a family.”

“Israel is parting with a man who saw everything, who was involved in everything and who was behind everything. Peres is the story of the Jewish people and of Israel. He was one of the giants of national leadership we have seen over the past century,” Edelstein said in a statement.

“Shimon was a teacher, a friend and a remarkable statesman who will be forever remembered as an icon of Israel’s history, and whose legacy will continue to play a profound role in Israel’s future,” opposition leader and head of the Zionist Union party Isaac Herzog wrote on Facebook.

“He was a man who had a hand in everything that was built here,” wrote Herzog, who also leads Labor — the largest party that makes up the Zionist Union faction — which Peres also headed.

Peres, said Herzog, “is one of the greats that shaped the face of Israel throughout its existence. He contributed to Israel’s security and deterrence, he fought resolutely against terrorism, and he relentlessly pursued peace. These remarkable contributions, as well as his work towards economic and social empowerment, improving Israel’s international status, and supporting Israel as a nation of innovation and courage, created a lasting impact that no words can do justice.”

Tzipi Livni, Zionist Union MK and head of the Hatnua party, which makes up the second part of the faction, said that it was “hard to imagine Israel without him; he will be remembered the world over as a statesman and a leader.”

Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) praised Peres as “a practical visionary and peace-seeking security figure, a courageous leader.”

“He proudly represented Israel around the globe, and cared for the future of the Jewish people with every ounce of his body and soul,” Bennett said.

Economy Minister and head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, Aryeh Deri, said that he received the news of Peres’s death with “deep sorrow and great pain.”

“He was a true friend to me. I loved him dearly. I will always remember him for his intelligence, his vision, his sensitivity and the great respect with which he treated everyone,” said Deri.

Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said “Peres was a founding father of our country and a man of hope,” announcing that the Israeli mission would open a condolence book in Peres’s memory.

“Shimon Peres’s life embodied the narrative of the modern State of Israel. From his youth in the diaspora and his emigration to Israel, to his integral fight for our independence and his tireless work on behalf of our country until his very last days,” Danon said.