BREAKING NEWS: Israel President Peres Faints, Rushed To Hospital
By Worthy News Jerusalem Bureau
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (Worthy News)– Israel’s president Shimon Peres was rushed to hospital Saturday night, September 12, after he collapsed on stage while speaking at an event in Tel Aviv, officials said.
The 86-year-old Peres fainted, but regained consciousness on his own a few seconds later, paramedics told Isreali media.
Peres reportedly passed out while answering questions from the crowd. It was the worst health scare for the head of state in recent memory. Peres was so far believed to be in relative good health, despite his advanced age.
Initially Peres refused to be taken to hospital but eventually agreed to go to Tel Hashomer hospital in Tel Aviv for a check up, news reports said. Dr. Ari Shamis of Tel Hashomer hospital told Channel 10 TV that the president would be held overnight for observation. Shamis said Peres was not in danger and that he had “spontaneously regained consciousness.”
Born in Poland on Aug. 2, 1923, Peres immigrated to Israel in 1934.
Peres was elected to parliament on the Labor Party ticket in 1959 and held a succession of Israel’s most senior posts, including the premiership and the defense and foreign affairs portfolios before being elected in 2007 for a seven-year term in the nonpartisan, largely ceremonial office of president.
In 1994 he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.