WATCH: The Last Television Interview of the Late Israeli President Shimon Peres
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by Algemeiner Staff
The late former Israeli President Shimon Peres. Photo: Screenshot.
The late former Israeli President Shimon Peres, who died on Wednesday at the age of 93, was interviewed on television for the final time a month ago when he appeared on Channel 1’s “Reason to Party” program.
In the interview, which can be viewed below, Peres was asked by host Rivka Michaeli about his own well-being and the state of the peace process.
“I’m doing great,” Peres said. “There are pessimistic people [about peace]. But this does not compel history.”
Later, musician Idan Raichel performed the song “The Eyes of Beta Israel” — the words of which were written by Peres in 2012 about the mass aliyah of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Peres was prime minister in the mid-1980s during Operation Moses, which saw around 8,000 Ethiopian Jews secretly airlifted to Israel.
Speaking with Raichel, Peres called the operation “one of the most exciting moments of my life.”
“I viewed it as a second exodus from Egypt — not by foot, but on American planes,” Peres said. “They didn’t cross the Red Sea, they crossed Sudan. This was a sight I won’t forget my whole life. There was absolute silence and shimmering black eyes. As if they had come from history.”
Watch Peres’ last television appearance below:
