Shimon Peres

Peres: Not sure bombing Iran's nuclear sites "best solution"

Israeli President Shimon PeresJerusalem  - Israeli President Shimon Peres said Wednesday attacking Iran would only postpone its ability to build an atom bomb.

"I'm not sure that bombing the nuclear facilities is the best solution. You know, the moment there are centrifuges, you can destroy the centrifuges. You cannot destroy the know-how to create centrifuges. You can postpone," he told Israel's Channel 10 television.

Asked if Israel could accept a nuclear Iran, he said: "It's not all only attacking the nuclear facilities."

Poison of anti-Semitism still flourishing, Israeli President says

Israeli President Shimon PeresJerusalem  - Sixty four years after the defeat of the Nazi regime and the end of World War II, anti-Semitism is still flourishing, Israeli President Shimon Peres warned Monday as he opened the country's annual commemoration of the Nazi's attempted genocide of the Jews of Europe.

"The gas has dissipated, but the poison remains. There are still Holocaust deniers and hot-headed skinheads in the world, those who bear the sort of visceral hatred that leads to racist murder," Peres said at the official ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Centre in Jerusalem.

Peres: Israel not planning Iran attack

Peres: Israel not planning Iran attack Jerusalem  - Israeli President Shimon Peres said Thursday there was no military solution to Iran's nuclear programme.

"All this talk of an Israeli attack in Iran is incorrect," a statement from his office quoted Peres as telling US special envoy George Mitchell.

"The solution," he said, "is not military."

Changing of Israeli governments begins at president's residence

Changing of Israeli governments begins at president's residence Jerusalem  - Israel's president hosted the country's new and outgoing prime ministers Wednesday for a formal changing of the guards that included a red-carpet welcome and the playing of the national anthem.

President Shimon Peres, whose duties are largely ceremonial, was to address the gathering, as was outgoing premier Ehud Olmert and incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose new government was sworn in by the Knesset late Tuesday.

Peres hopes for successful Israeli-Palestinian peace talks this year

Peres hopes for successful Israeli-Palestinian peace talks this year Prague  - Israeli President Shimon Peres after a meeting with Czech President Vaclav Klaus in Prague on Monday said he was hopeful for a successful conclusion to peace talks with the Palestinians this year.

Peres added that he expected "definite advances" in Israel's relations with its Arab neighbours.

Klaus stressed that politics was not about ideology but compromise.

Israel's president offers new year's message to Iranians

Israel's president offers new year's message to IraniansJerusalem - Israeli President Shimon Peres on Friday in a New Year's message to the Iranian people sharply criticized the leadership in Tehran.

In an audio message broadcast partly in Farsi ahead of the Iranian news year's holiday of Nowruz, Peres accused the government of Iran of doing everything it could to harm Israel and its people.

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