Neither Israel’s prime minister nor president will attend South Africa’s commemorations of the late Nelson Mandela this week, officials said, a notable absence at events expected to draw more than 70 world leaders.

Palestinians, who hail South Africa’s first black leader as an inspiration in a conflict with what they call Israeli “apartheid”, will be represented by President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who praised Mandela as “a freedom fighter who rejected violence”, will not attend Tuesday’s ceremony in Johannesburg due to the costs of travel and security, aides said. President Shimon Peres, who is 90, had been advised by his doctors not to make the trip.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“The president is recovering from flu and doctors advised him not to fly,” a spokesman for Peres said.

The foreign ministry said Yuli Edelstein, speaker of Israel’s parliament, would attend instead.

Like Mandela, Peres is a winner of the Nobel peace prize. As defence minister in the 1970s, he was also involved in military and trade ties with South Africa’s white rulers. In 2010, he denied a newspaper report that Israel had offered to provide the apartheid state with nuclear weapons in 1975.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount