Israeli President Shimon Peres. Photo: wiki commons.

In an address marking the 63rd anniversary of the establishment of Israel’s parliament, Israeli President and Nobel Peace laureate, Shimon Peres, made a peaceful overture to the people of Iran.

“We were not born enemies and there is no need to live as enemies. Do not allow the flags of hostility to cast a dark shadow over your historic heritage,” he said. “Your people are a sensitive people that aspire for friendship and peace, and not for conflicts and wars.”

Peres, who is one of Israel’s senior officials is 88 years old, and before the Islamic Republic’s 1979 revolution, he visited Tehran on a number of occasions.

“Peres is one of the few people in Israel who remember the warm ties between the two countries. He visited a few times before the revolution, he walked the streets of Tehran, ate at restaurants there and had many Iranian friends,” Peres’s press secretary told the AP.

His message regarding the Iranian government was a different story.

“Iran is not only a threat for Israel, it constitutes a real danger to humanity as a whole,” he said. “The present Iranian regime is Imperialism-hungry, aspiring to be the region’s supreme ruler,” he said.