Obama, Bill Clinton to attend Peres funeral

Share:

peresPresident Barack Obama will lead a U.S. delegation to attend the funeral of former Israeli president Shimon Peres, the White House said Wednesday.

The president will leave for Israel Thursday and will return to Washington, D.C., on Friday.

Peres, called one of the founding fathers of the state of Israel and hailed for a career built on promoting peace between Arabs and Jews, died at the age of 93 after being hospitalized for a major stroke, his family announced Wednesday morning Israel time.

A host of world leaders are expected to attend the funeral in Jerusalem. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton, the U.K.’s Prince Charles and French President Francois Hollande have said they will attend, among other leaders.

Members of the Knesset guard carry the coffin of former Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. Peres died early Wednesday from complications from a stroke. He was 93. (Ariel Schalit/Associated Press)
Members of the Knesset guard carry the coffin of former Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. Peres died early Wednesday from complications from a stroke. He was 93. (Ariel Schalit/Associated Press)

Obama in a statement after Peres’ death said the former Israeli leader never gave up hope on the pursuit of peace between Israelis, Palestinians and Israel’s neighbors. Obama said no one had done more to strengthen the bond between Israel and the United States than Peres.

“There are few people who we share this world with who change the course of human history, not just through their role in human events, but because they expand our moral imagination and force us to expect more of ourselves. My friend Shimon was one of those people,” Obama said.

Tribute

The foreign minister of Bahrain has issued a tribute to Israel’s ninth President Shimon Peres, a rarity for an Arab leader.

Khalid al-Khalifa tweets Thursday, “Rest in peace President Shimon Peres, a man of war and a man of the still elusive peace in the Middle East.”

Although Peres is hailed as a man of peace, Arab leaders have greeted his death mostly with silence. The hostility is colored by Peres’ role in building his country’s defense arsenal, supporting Israeli settlements in the West Bank and waging war in Lebanon.

Still, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has lauded Peres for reaching a “peace of the brave” with the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

MSNBC/WP

Share:

Comments

5 responses to “Obama, Bill Clinton to attend Peres funeral”

  1. Still waiting for Nasrallah’s eulogy (I guess the Israelis have already accepted that he’s not coming to the funeral – the hole in the border fence just isn’t big enough for the Fat Sack of Shit to pass through)….

  2. Send that POS back to where he came from in Poland. Then when in Poland, dump the filth in the sewage.

  3. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he also plans to attend.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7f1af78b86a5811e3330cdcafb825d708fdc779d20e6896071bf38e34358236c.jpg

    Mr Abbas said that by attending Friday’s funeral he wanted to “send a strong message to Israeli society that the Palestinians are for peace, and appreciate the efforts of peaceful men like Shimon Peres”, a senior Palestinian official said.
    The Palestinian delegation will include chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and security chief Majid Faraj.

    1. Hind Abyad Avatar

      So What?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *