ISRAELI PRESIDENT SHIMON PERES
Interviewed by Charlie Rose
Live from the 92nd St. Y

Israeli President, former Prime minister and Nobel Prize winner Shimon Peres first entered Israeli politics in 1959, and has been a constant figure in the Israeli political arena ever since.  Prime minister of Israel three times, Peres served in 12 Israeli cabinets as finance minister, foreign minister, defense minister and development of the Negev, Galilee and regional economy minister, to name a few.  Prior to his nomination for president he served as the vice premier of Israel, under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Peres was voted Israel’s ninth president on June 13, 2007.

Born Szymon Persky in Wiszniew, Poland on August 2, 1923, Peres came to Israel in 1934, attended the Geula School in Tel Aviv and the Ben Shemen agricultural school, lived on Kibbutz Geva and was one of the founders of Kibbutz Alumot. He later attended the New York School for Social Research and Harvard University.