US President Barack Obama ordered all federal institutions,including US embassies and military installations abroad, to fly the American flag at half-mast Wednesday in honor of Shimon Peres, who passed away Wednesday morning at the age of 93.
It is only the seventh time that the American flag has been flown at half-mast in honor of a foreign national. Peres joins fellow Laborite and former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, Anwar Sadat, King Hussein, and Winston Churchill.
The White House issued a statement saying that President Obama had instructed “that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and on all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, on September 30, 2016.”
In addition to lowering the flag in Peres’ honor, Obama will attend Peres’ funeral on Friday.
He will be joined by many other world leaders and dignitaries, all of whom will ascend Mt. Herzl to pay their respects to Israel’s last founding father. However, no leaders from the neighboring Arab countries have confirmed their intention to attend the funeral as of press time.
