Israel ex-President Shimon Peres has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke.
The 93-year-old has been rushed to a hospital outside Tel Aviv. He has been sedated and is breathing with the help of a respirator, his office said. He is now expected to undergo a CT scan.
Shimon Peres had been described as conscious and stable when he arrived at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer.
In January, the former president underwent successful minor surgery at the same hospital after suffering a small heart attack.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted: “Shimon, we love you and the entire nation is wishing for your recovery.”
Shimon Peres has held almost every major political office since Israel was founded in 1948, and was the architect of Israel’s secret nuclear program.
He twice served as prime minister and was president from 2007 to 2014.
Shimon Peres won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for his role negotiating the Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians a year earlier, a prize he shared with PM Yitzhak Rabin, who was later assassinated, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Despite his age, Shimon Peres has maintained an active public schedule, mostly through his non-governmental Peres Centre for Peace, which promotes closer ties between Israel and the Palestinians.
Israel’s ex-President Shimon Peres has been taken to hospital after suffering chest pains, 10 days after he had a small heart attack.
Shimon Peres, 92, underwent minor surgery last week for a constricted artery.
A spokeswoman said on January 24 that Shimon Peres was readmitted to a Tel Aviv hospital “for observation and testing”.
The former president was not due to undergo any invasive procedures, Haaretz reported.
Shimon Peres twice served as Israel’s prime minister and was president from 2007 to 2014.
On January 24, he was found by doctors to have an irregular heartbeat, his spokeswoman said.
Shimon Peres won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for his role negotiating the Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians a year earlier, a prize he shared with PM Yitzhak Rabin, who was later assassinated, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
He was defeated in the 1996 election by the head of the opposition Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Shimon Peres has held almost every major political office since Israel was founded in 1948, and was the architect of Israel’s secret nuclear program in 1959.
Despite his age, Shimon Peres has maintained an active public schedule, mostly through his non-governmental Peres Center for Peace, which promotes closer ties between Israel and the Palestinians.
Barack Obama’s armored limo broke down on the way to Tel Aviv airport as the US president is making a historic visit to Israel.
The custom General Motors Cadillac limo was relegated to a pick up truck after the driver accidentally put gas in the engine instead of diesel.
President Barack Obama arrived in Tel Aviv Wednesday afternoon local time, and earlier that morning, the limo that was designated to his hotel was unable to move after the driver made the silly mistake.
Local news reports allege that it was the President’s limo that was shipped over specially from Washington that broke down so he was forced to use the second vehicle that they brought over from the U.S.
The limo was pictured by local station 24 Hour News when it was on the back of a flatbed truck.
Since the car was not able to take him from the airport, thankfully the president was always scheduled to leave the airport via helicopter in order to avoid passing through the Palestinian checkpoints that interrupt the route from Ben Gurion Airport to Jerusalem.
The US Secret Service put out a statement about the incident, saying that it was a situation where it pays for them to be prepared.
“One of our protective vehicles experienced mechanical problems in Israel earlier today. This is why we bring multiple vehicles and a mechanic on all trips,” said Edwin Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service.
“Situations like this are planned for extensively by our advance teams so that the President’s itinerary is unaffected by these types of issues.”
They did not confirm that whether or not the driver used gas or diesel, and if that was the cause of the malfunction.
Barack Obama’s armored limo broke down on the way to Tel Aviv airport as the US president is making a historic visit to Israel
Barack Obama’s first stop was to Israeli President Shimon Peres’ house, and after planting a ceremonial tree and giving brief scripted remarks, he drove off in an armored limo.
Given the Secret Service statement, it appears that the President drove off in the second limo while the American technician worked on the first.
President Barack Obama started off the trip by apologizing to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as he was overheard saying: “It’s embarrassing, our entourage. My wife, Michelle, teases me mercilessly.”
The US president isn’t kidding about the fact that he travels with a crew: the Israeli government issued a press kit that reports Barack Obama has a 600-person entourage, and they will occupy all 233 rooms in the King David Hotel during their stay.
By comparison, Madonna has a 200-person entourage when she tours, meaning that the President has a crew three-times the size of the best-known Material Girl.
Barack Obama must enjoy hanging out with a familiar group, as he reportedly agreed to do a cameo in the upcoming movie version of the show Entourage.
Barack Obama has arrived in Tel Aviv for his first trip to Israel as US president.
After landing in Tel Aviv, BarackObama also referred to the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, saying “peace must come to the Holy Land”.
US officials have tried to lower expectations of any significant headway on restarting the peace process.
Syria, and Iran’s nuclear ambitions are expected to loom large in talks.
Correspondents say Israelis are more preoccupied with instability in the wider Middle East region than with breathing new life into the peace process, which broke down in 2010 amid a dispute over continued Israeli settlement construction.
Settlement supporters are a big force in Israel’s new coalition government.
Barack Obama was welcomed at Ben Gurion airport by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s President Shimon Peres.
After being introduced to Israeli ministers and dignitaries, Barack Obama said the US would “never lose sight of an Israel at peace with its neighbors”.
The US president added: “The United States stands with Israel because it is in our fundamental security interests to stand with Israel. Our alliance is eternal. It is forever.”
PM Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Thank you for defending Israel’s right to unequivocally defend its right to exist.”
Barack Obama has arrived in Tel Aviv for his first trip to Israel as US president
Barack Obama is due to hold separate talks with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during his three-day visit.
In the US, Barack Obama has been criticized for not having visited Israel in his first term as president, with some saying it shows he is not close enough to the country.
That is despite his administration’s repeated assertion that the two countries share an “unbreakable alliance”.
Thousands of Israeli and Palestinian security officers have been assembled in Jerusalem and the Palestinians’ de facto capital in the West Bank city of Ramallah, ahead of his trip.
The state of the economy and social issues dominated Israel’s last election, and Barack Obama has said he is not going to the region bearing any grand peace plan.
Barack Obama’s relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu has been notoriously frosty and one recent opinion poll suggested a mere 10% of the Israeli public had a favorable opinion of the US president.
The main event of this trip is a speech to the Israeli people – Barack Obama’s main task is to build bridges and improve his image, which could give him more leverage over the new Israeli government.
Yesterday, Palestinian protesters gathered in Ramallah and Bethlehem, some throwing shoes at images of Barack Obama and others driving over his portrait, reports said.
Demonstrator Huwaida Arraf told Reuters news agency that Barack Obama’s visit was “a slap in the face”.
“People are angry and disappointed that this far into his presidency, Obama has done nothing, and aid to Israel’s occupation continues to flow,” he said.
Meanwhile, Israeli demonstrators gathered in Jerusalem to demand barack Obama free Jonathan Pollard, imprisoned in the US in 1987 for spying for Israel.
Barack Obama’s three-day visit to Israel:
Wednesday: Meets PM Benjamin Netanyahu
Thursday: Meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
Friday: Visits Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity and later departs for Jordan
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said would respect an Israeli decision to use military force to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, according to one of his aides.
Mitt Romney, who is in Jerusalem, is expected to pledge closer ties between the US and Israel if he is elected.
President Barack Obama has focused on using sanctions to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The first leg of Mitt Romney’s trip, in London, was marred by controversy.
After talking of “disconcerting” signs in London’s preparations for the Olympic Games, Mitt Romney backtracked and predicted a “very successful” Olympics.
On Sunday morning Mitt Romney held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.
Mitt Romney held talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres
He told Shimon Peres he shared Israel’s concern about the development of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, saying: “The threat it would pose to Israel, the region and the world is incomparable and unacceptable.”
Mitt Romney will give a speech later on Sunday near Jerusalem’s Old City in which he is expected to say it is “unacceptable” for Iran to have the “capacity” to develop nuclear weapons.
“If Israel has to take action on its own, in order to stop Iran from developing the capability, the governor [Mitt Romney] would respect that decision,” his foreign policy adviser Dan Senor told reporters ahead of the speech.
After his meetings with Israeli officials, he went to Jerusalem’s Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holy sites.
Mitt Romney will be hoping that burnishing his pro-Israel credentials will help him among key constituencies in a tight race with Barack Obama, analysts say.
Mitt Romney says Barack Obama has undermined Israel and supported its enemies.
The Republican presidential hopeful is also scheduled to meet Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, though not Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
While not explicitly ruling out military intervention, President Barack Obama’s policy has emphasized non-military means of putting pressure on Iran.
Mitt Romney is highly critical of the international talks taking place which might lead to Iran being allowed to enrich some uranium. Mitt Romney wants zero enrichment.
In his speech on foreign policy, Mitt Romney will say he hopes the military option on Iran can be avoided but that it should not be taken off the table.
Mitt Romney says this is the best chance of focusing the minds of Iranian leaders on finding a peaceful solution.
A source in Mitt Romney’s campaign said he also agreed with those who worried the Arab spring could turn into an “Islamist winter”.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Israel for talks expected to focus on Iran, the peace process and Egypt.
Hillary Clinton will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as President Shimon Peres and other officials.
She was in Egypt over the weekend, where she met new President Mohammed Mursi.
Hillary Clinton is expected to share her impressions of the new Egypt with Israeli officials.
She will tell officials in Jerusalem that Egypt’s President Mohammed Mursi reiterated in private what he has said in public – that Egypt will abide by all its international agreements.
Those agreements include a peace treaty with Israel.
Israel said to be anxious about the rise of Islamists in neighboring Egypt after the ousting of Hosni Mubarak, who was a long-time American ally.
Hillary Clinton has arrived in Israel for talks expected to focus on Iran, the peace process and Egypt
On her trip to Cairo, Hillary Clinton met President Mohammed Mursi and, separately, the head of Egypt’s top military council, Field Marshal Mohamad Hussein Tantawi.
The president has been in conflict with the military council, which ruled the country after Mubarak was forced out, over parliament’s dissolution.
On Saturday, Hillary Clinton told Mohammed Mursi that the situation required “compromise and real politics” but also voiced support for a “full transition to civilian rule”.
The secretary of state also encouraged Mohammed Mursi to live up to promises to protect the rights of women and minorities, and to preserve the peace treaty with Israel.
In her talks with Field Marshal Mohamad Hussein Tantawi on Sunday Hillary Clinton discussed the transition of power to the newly elected president and stressed the need to protect the rights of all Egyptians, US officials said.
Speaking later at the newly re-opened US consulate in Alexandria, Hillary Clinton said: “I want to be clear that the United States is not in the business, in Egypt, of choosing winners and losers, even if we could, which of course we cannot.”
Hillary Clinton also held meetings with leading women, the Coptic Christian community and young entrepreneurs in Egypt.
She said: “Democracy is not just about reflecting the will of the majority. It is also about protecting the rights of the minority.”
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