In a 2015 interview with CNN, Peres expressed support for a nuclear deal with Iran and said it would be feasible for inspectors to enforce the terms of the agreement.
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Tuesday’s news is the latest health scare for the elder statesman.
The 93-year-old was taken to the Sheba Medical Centre in Tel Hashomer, near Tel Aviv, where doctors made a decision to sedate him in order to carry out further tests, Israeli daily Haaretz reported. I want to start by thanking the medical staff at Tel Hashomer who are assessing my father and consulting with the family. “The way things seem now, we don’t think surgery in the next few hours would benefit Mr. Peres’ condition”. We are receiving a huge number of messages from Israel and overseas from all our friends who are surrounding us with love and care.
“My father is very special”. Hoping for the best.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken to the head of the Sheba Medical Center and received an update on Peres’s situation.
“I wish former president Shimon Peres speedy recovery”.
“The prime minister conveyed the prayers of the entire nation for a quick recovery”, his office said.
In January, he was rushed to a hospital twice after experiencing chest pains.
Before converting from a pro-war politicon to a peace-loving dove in 1977, a change of heart he said was a result of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s visit to Israel and subsequent peace treaty with Tel Aviv, Peres said Israel had the right to keep land gained during war, such as the Syrian Golan Heights, in contravention of worldwide law.
The Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Yitzhak Yosef, also called to pray for Peres, saying “to his credit is the saving of the world of Torah by establishing the exemption (from IDF service) to yeshiva students and his great appreciation to the Torah”.
In a career spanning almost seven decades, Peres served in a dozen cabinets and twice as a Labour Party prime minister.
He had remained active since completing his seven-year term as president in 2014, and even uploaded a video to his Facebook account earlier in the day.
Since leaving the presidency, Peres frequently hosted public events at his peace center, bringing together Arabs and Jews in efforts to promote coexistence.
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He battled Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for Labor Party leadership in the 1980s and 1990s, eventually becoming Rabin’s foreign minister.
