Representatives of more than 70 nations, including President Barack Obama, attended the funeral of Shimon Peres, Israel’s ninth president and one of its founding fathers, in Jerusalem on Friday. Peres died Wednesday morning at the age of 93 after suffering a stroke two weeks earlier.

The presence of so many foreign dignitaries at the funeral testified to Peres’s status as someone “who transcended international boundaries, like Nelson Mandela and Pope John Paul II,” The New York Times observed.

Both Obama and former President Bill Clinton delivered eulogies at the ceremony, reflecting the warm relationship the veteran Israeli statesman had with the American leaders. Other notable world leaders in attendance included French President François Hollande, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Prince Charles and former British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and David Cameron, and Spain’s King Felipe VI.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry also attended, as did a delegation from the Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the start of the funeral.

Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who dedicated his years in public office to both fortifying Israel’s defenses and emphasizing its hopes for peace, was remembered by many of the speakers for his efforts to bring a lasting end to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

In his eulogy, Obama, who ordered flags at all federal buildings to be flown at half-mast in tribute to the Israeli leader, compared him to “some other giants of the 20th century that I’ve 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 epochs, that they find 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’s story, the story of Israel, the experience of the Jewish people, I believe it is universal,” he added. “It’s the story of a people who, over so many centuries in the wilderness, never gave up on that basic human longing to return home.”

After recounting Peres’s contributions to the nascent Jewish state, including laying the foundation for its army, building up its defense industries, and presiding over the rescue of some 8,000 Ethiopian Jews escaping famine and anti-Semitism, Obama described Peres’s legacy as a peacemaker:

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 up 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, Shimon’s 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 endpoint.

In his own eulogy, Clinton praised his late friend’s optimism, saying, “He never gave up on anything….Peres started off life as Israel’s brightest student, became its best teacher, and ended up its biggest dreamer.”

Netanyahu also called Peres a friend in his eulogy, and recalled that they first met when Peres delivered a “deeply stirring eulogy” for Netanyahu’s older brother Yoni, who died in the 1976 raid to free Israeli and Jewish hostages held in Uganda’s Entebbe airport. Peres, then Israel’s defense minister, had approved the operation.

At his brother’s funeral, Netanyahu formed “a special bond” with Peres that deepened throughout the years, despite their political and philosophical differences. Netanyahu also credited Peres for being a unifier, saying that the elder statesman “reached the conclusion that no one camp has a monopoly on truth.”

The day after his swearing in as Israel’s 9th president, he attended the official memorial ceremony for Ze’ev Jabotinsky, whom I regard as one of my spiritual mentors.

Addressing the ceremony, Shimon said, “History bestowed on the two major streams of Zionism – the Labor movement and the Jabotinsky movement – the task of building the Zionist enterprise. The many gaps between these two camps have narrowed on many issues. The adherents of these streams are today partners in political parties and in the leadership of the state – something that was inconceivable in the distant past.”

“It seems,” Shimon concluded, “that King Solomon was right. Two are better than one.”

At the end of his speech, I approached him, shook his hand and warmly thanked him for his unifying message.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin similarly praised his predecessor as a visionary:

You had the rare ability Shimon, to conceive what seemed to be the inconceivable, and see it to fruition. Your eyes saw far ahead, while your feet covered great distances on the landscape of Jewish and Zionist history. … You strived until your final breaths to reach the pinnacle of the Zionist dream: an independent, sovereign state, existing in peace with our neighbors. Yet you also knew that true peace could only be achieve from a position of strength, and you were sure to secure the path to this goal.

Few among us understand, and much more will be written about how many mountains you moved, from the days of the State’s establishment and till today in order to ensure our security and our military qualitative edge. How deep was your belief in the sacred combination of ethical leadership and military prowess, that Israel must act not just with wisdom, but with justice, faithful at every moment to its values as a Jewish and democratic state, democratic and Jewish.

He also recognized a number of distinctions that Peres held.

My dear Shimon, you were the only one in the history of the State of Israel to serve in the three most senior positions in government: Foreign Minister, Defense Minister, and Finance Minister. You are the only one to have served as Prime Minister and as President. It is no exaggeration to say that: more than you were blessed to be President of this great nation, this nation was blessed to have you as its President. In all these roles you were our head, but even more so, my dear friend, you were our heart; a heart that loved the people, the land, and the State. A heart which loved each and every person, a heart which cared for them.

Peres’s three children also spoke at the ceremony, conveying the private side of his life. His daughter Tzvika Walden recalled:

In the eyes of the public he will be remembered as one who dined with kings.

I remember him at the table of a French restaurant, when he whispered in my ear, it’s tastes good, but nothing compares to your mother’s salad. To him, Israel’s cucumbers and tomatoes were the finest of delicacies.

Israel’s foreign ministry put together a series of photographs that recall Peres’s many roles in the history of Israel.

[Photo: euronews (in English) / YouTube ]