Shimon peres died on wednesday at the age of 93. On friday, more than 100 World Leaders attended his funeral in jerusalem. Here is part of the funeral, including remarks by president obama and former president bill clinton. This is one hour and a half. Pres. Clinton two president obama and all of the distinguished leaders from around the world, yesterday, the Prime Minister did something that was unthinkable back in the dark ages when i was president of the United States, he sent out a tweet and it reminded us of a simple fact. First dayaels without shimon peres. He was for more than 70 of his 93 years, in one way or another, in and out of government. He was a public servant. Honored to share 25 years with him, first in our common efforts with the Prime Minister and blessed memories to forge a justin lasting peace between israel and the palestinians. Someone whofriend, listen to, learned from and laughed with him. Awe of his and less capacity, to move on even in the crushing setbacks, in order to seize the possibilities of each new day. Mem honored the family asked to tell you what he meant to someone that is not a citizen of this country i love so much. Lesswho was never the blessed and inspired, and i he isin many ways, representative of millions more he touched though never met. Israel watched him grow first from a young genius doing his best to build in undefeated Defense Force through a long life to become a life champion of our common humanity. Someone who wanted the best for all children, the israeli children but also the children of his neighbors in the larger world. Speakers have clip id me again of a saw last night on television, where he was interviewed by charlie rose and he looked at to and said, i am Going Service all up to you, and i want you to hit a home run. What do you want your legacy to be . He said, i am more concerned about tomorrow then yesterday. Our complicated, brilliant by a simple,d straightforward creed. Thanks in no small measure to this relentless urging, the tomorrow he envisions are already lived in israel. People, in spite of all of the troubles, you heard the Prime Minister talk about the dedication of the new park. He has been talking to me about that for 25 years. There are young people now throughout the region who are trying to break the material chains that have held them in bondage thanks in no small measure to the inspiration he provided. Criticseen said, his a 90s,aimed he was overly optimistic dreamer. They were only wrong about the ve part. He knew what he was doing and being overly optimistic. He knew what he was doing with his dreams. He never gave up on anybody. Mean, anybody you heard the Prime Minister talk about their beautiful friendship. It followed a very tough campaign. Kept the door open. We spent some of you wonderful times, but my personal favorite was sitting with him and his own personal friend of his 80th birthday party, listening to the back and forth was a sight to behold. It was worth the price of admission, as the saying goes. Perfection, it was a night. The stage was full of young people talking about what he had to their lives, including a young ethiopian member who was met as a very young child at the airport the operation he supported. However, with a , jewish, arabli children singing together a wonderful song imagine. He actually could imagine all of the People Living in the world today. He imagined all of the things the rest of us could do. He started off life as israels right a student, became its best teacher, and ended up its biggest dreamer. Years in a state of constant wonder. Potentialnbelievable of all of the rest of us to rise above our wounds, resentments, todayto make the most of and claim the promise of tomorrow. It must have been hard for him to do this. It is easy to say things like this at a memorial service. It is hard to do. First, he had to master his own demons, forgive himself for his own mistakes and get over his own disappointments. The monumental effort required to do that through his heart to be bigger than his brain, which is really saying something. That effort also, i am convinced, is what made him forever young. Gone. E is leaving only a blessed memory and a powerful example. Ift is more than enough those of us who loved him from near and far except our duty to keep his gifts alive. Lives, the rest of our whenever the road we travel comes to a dead end, or the good ,e seek to do its a stonewall or the hand of friendship we ,xtend needs only a cold stare in his honor, i ask that we luminousshimon peres smile. And imagine. The honorable, barack obama, president of the United States of america. Pres. Obama generations of the peres family, Prime Minister netanyahu, members of the israeli government, heads of guestysovernment and from around the world, including a gesture and a reminder of the , tonished business of peace the people of israel, i cannot be more honored to be in jerusalem to say farewell to my , who showedon peres are at justice and hope the finest idea, a free life in a homeland regained. Nation thate in a , a defend itself by its self full life, a friendship with nations that can be counted on as allies, always. Life, driven by Simple Pleasures of family and by big dreams. This was shimon peres life. Israel. The state of this is the story of the jewish people over the last century. It was made possible by a countsg generation that shimon peres as one of its own. Once said that the message of the jewish people to mankind is that faith is a moral vision and triumph over all adversity. Vision wase moral rooted in an honest reckoning of the world as it is. Said he felt surrounded by a sea of threatening forces. When his family got the chance to go to palestine, his beloved grandfathers words were simple, stay a jew. Propelled with that faith, he found his home. He found his purpose. Work. Nd his lifes teenageras still a when his grandfather was burned azis in the town he was born in the synagogue Railroad Tracks secured him toward the Promised Land and also delivered so many of his people. Age, hefrom an early bore witness to the cruelty that human beings could inflict upon each other. The ways that one group of people could dehumanize another. The particular madness of antisemitism, which has run like a stained through history. That understanding of mans ever precedent sinfulness would steer him against hardship and make him the gillette against threats around the world. But that understanding would never harden his heart. It would never extinguish his faith. Instead, it broadened his moral imagination and gave him the capacity to see all people as deserving of dignity and respect. It helped him see not just the world as it is, but the world as it should be. What shimon did to shape the story of israel is well chronicled. Starting in the kabutz he founded with his love he began work on building the model community. Bengurion called him to serve at headquarters to make sure the jewish people had the armaments and organization to secure their freedom. After independence, surrounded by enemies, who denied israels existence and sought to drive it into the sea, the child who had wanted to be a poet of stars became a man who built israels defense industry. Who laid the foundation for the formidable armed forces that won israels wars. His skill secured israels strategic position, his boldness sent israeli commandos to rescue jews from ethiopia. His statesmanship built an unbreakable bond with the United States of america and so many other countries. His contributions didnt end there. Shimon also showed what people can do when they harness 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. He made hard choices to roll back inflation and climb out from a terrible economic crisis. He championed the promise of science and technology to make the desert bloom. And turned this tiny country into a central hub of the digital age. Making life better not just for people here, but for people around the world. Indeed, shimons contribution to this nation is so fundamental, so pervasive that perhaps sometimes they can be overlooked. For a younger generation, shimon was probably remembered more for a Peace Process that never reached its end point. They would listen to critics on the left who might argue that shimon did not fully acknowledge the failings of his nation, or perhaps more numerous critics on the right, who argued he refused to see the true wickedness of the world and called him naive. But whatever he shared with his family, his closest friends, to the world he brushed off the critics. And i know from my conversation was him that his pursuit of peace was never naive. Every year he read the names of the family that he lost. Had fed hisan, he village by working the fields during the day, but then defending it by carrying a rifle at night. He understood in this war torn region where too often arab youth are taught to hate israel from an early age, he understood just how hard peace would be. Im sure he was alternately angry and bemused to hear the same critics who called him hopelessly naive depend on the defense architecture that he himself had helped to build. I dont believe he was naive. But he understood from hardearned experience that true security comes through making peace with your neighbors. We won them all, he said of israels wars, but we did not win the greatest victory that we from theo, release need tow i win victories. And just as he understood the practical necessity of peace, shimon believed that israels exceptionalism was rooted not only in fidelity to the jewish people, but to the moral and ethical vision, the precepts of his jewish faith. The jewish people werent born to rule another people, he would say. From the very first day we are against slaves and masters. Out of the hardships of the diaspora, he found room in his heart for others who suffered. He came to hate prejudice with a passion of one who knows how it feels to be its target. Even in the face of terrorist attacks, even after repeated disappointments of the negotiation table, he insisted that as human beings, palestinians must be seen as equal in dignity to jews and must therefore, be equal in selfdetermination. Because of his sense of justice, his analysis of israels security, his understanding of israels meaning, he believed that the zionist idea would be best protected when palestinians, too, had a state of their own. Of course, we gather here in the knowledge that shimon never saw his dream of 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. By the time that i came to work with shimon, he was in the twilight of his years. Although he might not admit it. I would be the 10th u. S. President , since john f. Kennedy, to sit down with shimon. The 10th to fall prey to his charms. I think of him sitting in the oval office, this final member of israels founding generation, under the portrait of george washington, telling me stories from the past but more often talking with enthusiasm of the present. His most recent lecture, his next project, his plans for the future. The wonders of his grandchildren. In many ways, he reminded me of some other giants of the 20th century that i have had the honor to meet. Men like nelson mandela, women like her majesty, queen elizabeth. Leaders who have seen so much, whose lives span such momentous that they find no need to posture or traffic in whats popular in the moment. People who speak with depth and knowledge, not in sound bites. They find no interest in polls or fads. And like these leaders, shimon could be true to his convictions , even if they cut against the grain of current opinion. He knew better than the cynic that if you look out over the arc of history, human beings should be filled not with fear , but with help. But with hope. Im sure thats why he was so excited about technology because for him it symbolized the march of human progress. And its why he loved so much to talk about young people. Because he saw young people unburdened by the prejudices of the past. Its why he believed in miracles. Because in israel he saw a miracle come true. As americans and israelis we often talk about the unbreakable bonds between our nations. And, yes, these bonds encompass common interests. Vital cooperation that makes both our nations more secure. But today were reminded that the bonds which matter most run deeper. Anchored in a judeochristian tradition, we believe in the irreduceable value of every human being. Our nations were built on that idea. They were built in large part by stubborn idealists and striving immigrants, including those who had fled war and fled oppression. Both our nations have flaws that we have not always fixed. The corners of our history, our founding,k to which we do not always squarely address. But because our founders planted not just flags in the eternal soar, but also planted the seeds of democracy. We have the ability to always pursue a better world. We have the capacity to do what is right. As an american, as a christian, a person partly of african descent, born in hawaii, a place that could not be further than where shimon spent his youth, i took great pleasure in my friendship with this older, wiser man. We shared a love of words and books and history and perhaps , like most politicians, we too a great joy and hearing ourselves talk. But beyond that i think our friendship was rooted in the fact that i could somehow see myself in his story and maybe he could see himself in mine because for all of our differences, both of us had lived such unlikely lives. It was so surprising to see the two of us where we had started, talking together in the white house, meeting here in israel. I think both of us understood that we were here only because in some way we reflected the magnificent story of our nations. Shimons story. The story of israel. The experience of the jewish people. I believe it is universal. Its the story of a people who over so many centuries in the wilderness never gave up on that basic human longing to return home. It is a story of a people who suffered the boot of oppression and the shutting of the gas chambers door, and yet never gave up on a belief in goodness. Its the story of a man who was counted on and then often counted out again and again and who never lost hope. Shimon perez reminds us that the state of israel like the United States of america was not built by cynics. We exist because people before us refused to be constrained by the past, or the difficulties of the present. And shimon perez was never cynical. It is that faith, that optimism, that belief even when all the evidence is to the contrary that tomorrow can be better that makes us not just honor shimon perez, but love him. The last of the founding generation is now gone. Shimon accomplished enough things in his life for a thousand men. But he understood it is better to live to the very end of his time on earth with the longing not for the past, but for the dreams that have not yet come true. An israel that is secure and a just and lasting peace with its neighbors. So, now this work is in the hand of israels next generation. In the hands of israels next generation and its friends. Like joshua, we feel the weight of responsibility that shimon so lightly. Ar but we draw strength from his example and the fact that he believed in us even when we doubted ourselves. Scripture tells us that before his death, moses said, i call upon heaven and earth to bear witness this day that i have set before you life and death, blessing and curse, therefore, choose life, that you and your. Fspring may live choose life. For shimon, let us choose life as he always did. Let us make his work our own. May god bless his memory and may god bless this country and this world that he loved so dearly. [speaking foreign language] language]n foreign [speaking foreign language] [speaking foreign language]
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