Israel's ninth president, Shimon Peres, was laid to rest Friday in a state service held at the Great Leaders of the Nation plot on Mount Herzl, in Jerusalem. Israeli leaders from across the political spectrum, alongside dignitaries from 70 countries worldwide, attended funeral. Peres' flag-draped coffin was laid in state in the Knesset Plaza on Thursday to allow the public to bid farewell to the last of Israel's founding fathers. Over 50,000 arrived at the Knesset throughout the day to pay tribute to the country's most veteran statesman. Peres' coffin was then taken to Mount Herzl on Friday morning, arriving at the national cemetery at 8:30 a.m. The official state service was held at 9:30 a.m., with some 5,000 people in attendance. President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, author Amos Oz, and the late president's three children, Tsvia, Yoni and Chemi spoke at the service. U.S. President Barack Obama was the last to pay tribute to the late Israeli president. At the family's request, singer David D'Or performed the Avinu Malkeinu prayer. Following state service, which ended at noon, a procession of some 500 people continued to the Great Leaders of the Nation plot, where Peres was entombed. Peres himself was the one to choose his final resting place: between Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995, and Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who passed away in 2011. President Reuven Rivlin's eulogized Peres as one whose efforts to promote peace were inspiring. "You were not just a man of vision, but a man of action. I was privileged to watch you with amazement, as a partner in the construction of the State of Israel from its inception. For both of us, the State of Israel will never be taken for granted. But, thanks in large part to you, Shimon, for our sons and daughters, for our friends and for our opponents, the State of Israel is an indisputable fact. "You succeeded in swaying the most stubborn politicians and melting the toughest hearts among our opponents. You strove, until your last breath, toward the peak of the Zionist dream -- a sovereign state in complete peace with our neighbors. "But you also knew that true peace can only be reached from a place of strength, and you took care to secure the journey to the peak. Few living among us understand how many mountains you moved since the country's foundation until today, to ensure our security and our military superiority. "Your belief in the sacred combination of moral leadership and military superiority, that Israel must be smart, but also just, loyal at all times to its values, as a Jewish and democratic state, democratic and Jewish," Rivlin said. "You were our head, but more than anything, my friend, you were our heart, a heart that loved the nation, the land and the state. A heart that loved its people, a heart that cared for them, a big heart, a great heart. Your enduring faith in mankind, in good people, in the triumph of progress over ignorance, in the victory of hope over fear. You were your own spring of eternal youth, and thanks to this, you were the spring of eternal youth for all of us. The man we believed even time wouldn't stop. "'The future is more important than the past,' you said. 'What happened yesterday does not interest me, only tomorrow does.' The love you received, which transcended political divides, in your later years -- from both your supporters and your opponents -- is an expression of the yearning we all have to be infected by your incurable optimism. Even when we didn't agree with you, we wanted to believe that maybe you were the one who was right. Shimon, we also owe you an apology. We were allowed to disagree with you, your opponents had a duty to express their opinion, but there were years when red lines were crossed between ideological disputes and words and deeds which had no place. "Today is a sad day," the president concluded, "Shimon, your journey of dreams is coming to an end in Jerusalem, our capital, which is also a dream that became a reality. Our parting from you is also a parting from ourselves. When we see world leaders, friends from near and far, who came here to pay you their final respects, we understand that it is not only here, but around the world that you will be missed. And we, all of us, already miss you." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of Peres' optimism and quest for peace. "I want to thank you all for coming today -- that so many leaders have come, from near and far, to bid farewell to Shimon Peres, one of Israel's founding fathers, one of the greatest leaders our country has ever had. Leader of immense stature, the extraordinary Shimon Peres. It is a testament to his optimism, his quest for peace, his love for Israel. The people of Israel deeply appreciate the honor you have shown Shimon. "Shimon Peres had a long life, and he built a life of purpose. He soared to incredible heights. He was a great man of Israel. He was a great man of the world. Israel grieves for him, the world grieves for him, but we find hope in his legacy, as does the world. Peres, Netanyahu said, "Participated in the revival of the Jewish people and grabbed the sword of David to protect it. Shimon contributed immensely to secure our defensive strength for generations to come, and we are grateful. ... It is no secret that Shimon and I were political rivals, but over the years we became friends, close friends even. The special connection between us never broke. "You spared no effort to strike peace. ... And in the tumultuous Middle East, where only the strong survive, peace can only be obtained if it stems from the constant guarantee of our might. Such power is but the means to an end -- the purpose of existence and coexistence, prosperity, peace and progress, for us, our Palestinian neighbors, and the nations of the region. "Shimon my friend, I weep for you today. I loved you. We all love you. Rest in peace, Shimon, a dear man, a great leader. You will be enshrined in the hearts of the nation and I dare say, in the hearts of all nations," Netanyahu concluded. Former President Clinton recounted his longtime friendship with Peres. "Yesterday, the prime minister did something that was unthinkable in the Dark Ages, when I was president, and send out a tweet that reminded us of a simple fact: It was Israel's first day without Shimon Peres. "He was a public servant. I was honored to share almost 25 of those years with him," Clinton said, noting their joint efforts with Rabin to "forge a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians," and then later, "just as a friend, someone to listen to, learn from and laugh with. "I always was in awe of his endless propensity to move beyond even the most crushing setbacks to seize the possibilities of each new day. I am honored the family asked me to tell you what he meant to someone who is not a citizen of the country I love so much." Peres was "steered by a simple, straightforward dream. That's in no small measure due to his constant, relentless vision that tomorrow's visions are already being lived here in Israel by many young people despite all the [region's] troubles. "His critics often claimed he was a naive, overly optimistic dreamer. They were only wrong about the naive part. He knew exactly what he was doing in being overly optimistic. He knew exactly what he was doing with his dreams. "He lived 93 years in a state of constant wonder over the unbelievable potential of all the rest of us to rise above our wounds, our resentments, our fears to make the most of today and claim the promise of tomorrow. Now he is gone, leaving only a blessed memory and a powerful example. That's more than enough, if those of us who loved him from near and far accept our duty to keep his gifts alive. So for the rest of our lives, whenever the road we travel comes to a dead end, all the good we seek to do hits a stone wall, when a hand of friendship we extend meets only a cold stare, in his honor, I ask that we remember Shimon Peres' luminous smile, and imagine." President Obama spoke of Peres' dream of regional peace. "He showed us that justice and hope are at the heart of the Zionist idea. A free life in a homeland regained, a secure life in a nation that can defend itself by itself. A full life and friendship with nations who can be counted on as allies. "Shimon once said that the message of the Jewish people to mankind is that faith and moral vision can triumph over all adversity. And so from an early age, Shimon bore witness to the cruelty human beings can inflict on each other ... the particular madness of anti-Semitism, which has run like a stain through history." "That understanding ... would never harden his heart. It would never extinguish his faith. Instead it broadened his moral imagination. It gave him the capacity to see all people as deserving of dignity and respect. It helped him see, not just the world how it is, but the world how it should be. "Shimon also showed what people could do when they harnessed reason and science to a common cause. He understood that a country without many natural resources could more than make up for it with the talents of its people. "Of course, we gather here in the knowledge that Shimon never saw his dream for peace fulfilled. The region is going through a chaotic time. Threats are ever-present. And yet he did not stop dreaming, and he did not stop working. "In many ways he reminded me of some other giants of the 20th century that I've had the honor to meet. ... They feel no need to posture or traffic in what's popular in the moment. People who speak with depth and knowledge, not in sound bites. "Shimon Peres reminds us that the State of Israel, like the United States of America, was not built by cynics. Shimon, toda raba, chaver yakar [thank you, dear friend]." 'You died too soon' Each of Peres' three children gave a eulogy as well. His daughter, Tsvia, was the first to speak. Tearfully, she spoke to the crowd about her father's "two lives": as a public figure and as a family man. "Although you will be remembered as one who dined with kings, I will remember you sitting in a French restaurant and saying, 'It's good, but not as good as Mom's salad.'" Tsvia said that her father was a "gentleman in every fiber of his being," and said that in his two lives, public and private, he was "always loving and in love -- with his family, with the people of Israel, with the State of Israel." Peres' son Yoni said that when Israel was a young country in constant distress, his father had decided to devote his life to the state and its citizens, and emphasized that despite difficulties, he had persisted and achieved greatness. Yoni recalled that once, when asked what he would like inscribed on his headstone, Peres replied without hesitation: "Died too soon." "You indeed died too soon. You had much more to contribute. Rest in peace," he said. Chemi Peres, the late president's other son, first addressed the foreign dignitaries in attendance in English: "He would have wanted us to thank you for your friendship to him, but even more for your friendship to our people. ... [He said] the role of leaders today is to serve their people, and there is no greater privilege than that. He saw in all of you leaders, friends and partners in his quest for peace." Switching to Hebrew, Chemi said, "No one can carry on your path, but many can follow in your footsteps, each in his own way. ... Your greatness stemmed from a burning to serve, not from a lust for power. More than anything else, you willed us the future." Unprecedented security Delegations comprising presidents, royalty, diplomats, businessmen and Jewish leaders from around the world traveled to Israel to pay tribute to Peres, prompting unprecedented security across the capital. The Prime Minister's Office's headed the logistics of the funeral. The security aspects for all foreign dignitaries were coordinated between the Shin Bet security agency's VIP Protection Unit and the various security directors for the dozens of heads of state who arrived in Israel. "This is an unprecedented operation. The VIP Protection Unit is responsible for the security of over 60 individuals from Israel and overseas, including 20 presidents, 15 foreign ministers, five heads of state and other foreign dignitaries," the Shin Bet said in a statement. The Israel Police, Border Police and Israel Defense Forces teamed up on the security operation in the capital, alongside the Shin Bet and several other government agencies. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said some 8,000 troops were deployed across Jerusalem to maintain order, as the funeral coincides with the traditional Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa mosque, which sometimes have been followed by unrest in and around the Temple Mount. Magen David Adom emergency services have also been placed on special alert. Hundreds of paramedics and dozens of ambulances, MDA motorbikes and EMT units will be deployed in the capital to meet any medical emergency.
Video: Reuters
