Israel Wonders What Happens When Its Fathers Are Gone

Shimon Peres's death on Wednesday struck a deep and sad chord for Israelis. They never united behind Peres the politician, who served as prime minister twice without being elected. They came to revere him, however, when he served as president.

When the 93-year-old Peres was hospitalized two weeks ago after a severe stroke, it evoked a greater response than the final chapters of other countries’ leaders because he was the “last man standing” -- the last of the iconic group of men and women who surrounded David Ben-Gurion in the years before and immediately after Israel’s independence. Israelis have lost their only remaining “father figure.”