What brought US President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande to the funeral of a former president of a tiny state in the Middle East? Why did former US President Bill Clinton, Britain’s Prince Charles, prime ministers and ministers from around the world and the region trouble themselves to Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cemetery? What was the reason late President Shimon Peres, who passed away Sept. 28 at the age of 93, drew such an outpouring of respect and adulation? And this begs a more important question: What of all this remained once Air Force One took off from Ben Gurion Airport?
They didn’t come to Jerusalem to eulogize the ninth president of the State of Israel and one of its shortest-serving prime ministers. It appears that no foreign dignitaries attended the funerals of the fifth president, Yitzhak Navon, and of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. (Late Prime Minister Menachem Begin wanted a private ceremony.) The world’s busiest leaders do not cross oceans to bid a final farewell to “friend” Peres, nor to “friend” Yitzhak Rabin, as Clinton fondly called (using the Hebrew word “haver’’) the assassinated leader at his funeral in 1995.
They came here first and foremost to convey a message to the Israeli public: This is how the world treats Israeli leaders who decide in their final years to exchange the dangers of war for the risks of peace. Do not believe politicians who tell you that the whole world is against you (Israelis). As you can see, VIPs and barons have come from the ends of the earth to stand beside you in your grief and envelop you with love. You can rely on us that we will stand by you through all your trials and tribulations.
“We feel the weight of responsibility that Shimon seemed to wear. … For Shimon, let us choose life, as he always did. Let us make his work our own,” Obama said at Peres’ graveside. In 1995, Clinton had said at Rabin’s graveside, “His spirit lives on. … Now it falls to all of us who love peace and all of us who loved him to carry on the struggle. … As you stay the course of peace, I make this pledge: neither will America forsake you.”
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