The world has lost a giant, Israel has lost an icon and I have lost a personal hero.

Throughout my life and diplomatic career Shimon Peres was a role model. He was the face of our country for decades and shone his face upon the world.

Anyone tasked with representing the State of Israel and the Jewish People, if they take that responsibility seriously, emulates Peres – as a diplomat, leader and human being.  Never meet your heroes, they say, but I am grateful to have had a career in which I met and got to know mine.

In every office I have worked in for more than two decades, an image of Peres in action has taken pride of place on my wall. It is a photograph I call “the Middle East Without Words.” The picture was taken in Cairo in 1994. It shows regional and international leaders who had assembled to sign maps of Jerusalem outlined in the Oslo Accords, live on TV. The photo captures the moment just after they discover that PLO leader, Yasser Arafat, is refusing to sign.

Read the full article in The Telegraph.