The Times of Israel reports: Former US President Bill Clinton paid his respects to former Israeli president and prime minister Shimon Peres immediately after landing in Israel on Thursday, viewing the late statesman’s coffin where it lay in state at the Knesset.
Clinton drove directly from Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv to the Knesset in Jerusalem, where Peres’s casket has been placed. He was welcomed to the Knesset with a “warm embrace” from President Reuven Rivlin, according to the Knesset spokesman. Rivlin, together with Speaker Yuli Edelstein, then accompanied Clinton to the Knesset plaza to pay his last respects to Israel`s ninth president.
Clinton is one of dozens of world leaders and dignitaries expected to land in Israel Thursday ahead of the funeral at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cemetery on Friday.
Peres died early Wednesday at the age of 93, some two weeks after suffering a massive stroke.
Clinton was a longtime friend of Peres since his term in the White House during the height of the Oslo peace process in the 1990s.
Read more here.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.