The eulogy delivered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the funeral of former President Shimon Peres on Sept. 30 was filled with emotional descriptions of personal, almost familial, moments the two had shared. But on listening again to the prime minister’s words, it’s hard to shake off the feeling that he was perhaps eulogizing Peres — but speaking mostly about himself. More than anything, it was a political speech designed to underscore Netanyahu’s just, chosen path.

The text read by the prime minister at the funeral was a masterpiece — recognizing Peres’ tremendous contribution to the State of Israel, focusing on his record in the defense arena, but completely ignoring his political one. Netanyahu did not mention the 25 years that Peres dedicated to a search for peace with the Palestinians based on division of the land and the Oslo Accord.

In the same vein, Netanyahu ignored the courageous leadership of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who decided to take part in the ceremony on Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cemetery despite harsh criticism in the Arab world in general and in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in particular. The prime minister was concerned about the harsh criticism that would be directed at him from the right wing in Israel, and did not mention his Palestinian colleague at all.

On the sidelines of the funeral, Netanyahu held a series of nonbinding diplomatic talks with attending world leaders. The meetings were widely publicized by his office to draw attention away from the important meeting that wasn’t — with US President Barack Obama, who flew in for the ceremony. Netanyahu also had no intention of using this emotional event, attended by several of the world’s central warriors for Israeli-Palestinian peace, to breathe life into the Oslo process.