Posted on 09/29/16
| News Source: Crosraods Today
JERUSALEM (AP) - The Latest on funeral preparations and a nation in mourning at the death of Israel's ninth President, Shimon Peres (all times local):
9:45 p.m.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with former U.S. President Bill Clinton ahead of the funeral for former Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Netanyahu said Clinton wrote a warm message in a guest book at the meeting Thursday night. He did not elaborate.
Earlier in the day Clinton joined thousands of mourners paying respects outside Israel's parliament building in Jerusalem where Peres' casket lay in state.
Clinton is among dozens of world leaders and dignitaries attending Peres' funeral on Friday.
It is expected to be the largest such gathering in Israel since the funeral of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated by a Jewish nationalist in 1995.
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9:30 p.m.
President Barack Obama will be among the world leaders who will speak at the funeral for former Israeli President Shimon Peres.
The White House says Obama's speechwriters are working on his remarks. Obama departs Washington on Thursday afternoon, in time to be in Jerusalem by Friday morning for the funeral.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the U.S. delegation will also include members of Congress from both political parties. U.S. national security officials also plan to attend. Rep. Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, says he's traveling with Obama to the funeral.
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9:15 p.m.
Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza is urging Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to boycott the funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri on Thursday said Abbas should...read more at Crossraods Today