Israel’s President Zalman Shazar and ex-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion voiced highest praise of the place the late Sir Winston Churchill held among the Jewish people, recording their sentiments for the BBC Hebrew transmissions which broadcast the messages today. President Shazar and Mr. Ben-Gurion were Israel’s official representatives at the obsequies for Sir Winston this weekend.
“Sir Winston Churchill,” said Mr. Shazar, “was one of the great Englishmen of all time. To us, he was a friend who never faltered in his hope, and never wavered in his deeds, for the rebirth of Israel. All of humanity is indebted to this giant of a man but, in addition, we owe him our own debt of gratitude.”
In his statement, Mr. Ben-Gurion declared: “Churchill was a man of destiny, and his time came during the last war. He was a great historian but did not confine himself solely to the past; he could see the future clearly, and knew the present well. He foresaw the danger of Hitlerism when neither the Conservatives nor the Labor Party understood it, and when England was not prepared to meet it. The people felt instinctively that he was the only man to meet the situation.
“In the great hour, he led Britain to victory. But he also led the entire world to victory and, thus, became the savior of humanity as a whole. We Jews remember Winston Churchill as a trusted and sincere friend of the Jewish people and of Jewish revival in its ancient land.
“He foresaw the Jewish State as far back as 1908 and remained a true friend and kept his faith in the greatness of the Jewish people. Sir Winston Churchill was a great man of the Twentieth Century but also a great man of the Nineteenth Century and, in this respect, he was unique in having spanned the two centuries. He will remain in history as one of the most trusted and sincere friends the Jewish people ever had.”
Mr. Ben-Gurion has stayed over in this country until tomorrow. He spent yesterday with his daughter, who is in England at present, and also visited Oxford University.
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