ISRAEL buried its Irish born former President, Mr Chaim Herzog, yesterday, hailing him as a man of many talents who had fought for Israel on both the battlefield and the world stage.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, who, like Mr Herzog, was an ambassador to the UN, spoke at the burial ceremony at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl. Mr Herzog died on Thursday at the age of 78.
The Israeli President, Mr Ezer Weizman, and the head of the opposition Labour Party, Mr Shimon Peres, also paid tribute to Mr Herzog.
"He incarnated Zionism in its noblest form," Mr Weizman said of Mr Herzog, who served as the sixth president of Israel between 1983 and 1993.
At the UN in 1975, Mr Herzog took the podium of the General Assembly and ripped up a draft resolution that equated Zionism - the belief in a Jewish state - with racism. Years later he welcomed the UN decision to rescind the resolution.
"Herzog pushed back the attacks on Israel at the United Nations out of a deep personal belief and that's what explains the great talent that emerged there and the special way that he, paved for all of those who came after him," Mr Netanyahu said.
Mr Herzog emigrated with his family to Palestine in 1935 before the founding of the state of Israel, when his father, a former Chief Rabbi of Ireland, was appointed Chief Rabbi of Palestine.
Mr Herzog crammed into his life at least half a dozen careers. More than 20 years in the military, he practised law, wrote books, and served as the sixth president for a decade until 1993 when he was succeeded by Mr Weizman.
"More than anything he understood our uniqueness as one people, as a people made up of all its roots, all its branches," said Mr Netanyahu.
"There was no man more suitable to stand at the head of the celebrations of the country's jubilee year and so I appointed him to this job," the Prime Minister said. "Fate dictated that he won't see this jubilee but the country will celebrate in his spirit and we'll dedicate the best of our efforts to reach his height."
Throughout the six days of the 1967 Middle East war, as a reserve major general, Mr Herzog offered commentary on local radio in the days before television in Israel, acting as the widely perceived "valium" to a nervous nation.
After the Six Day War of June 1967 - when Israel captured East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai - he was named first military governor of the West Bank.
Hue took part in the 1944 Normandy landings with the British, was with the first troops to cross the Rhine and became Field Marshal Montgomery's personal representative at a high level conference on displaced Europeans after the second World War.
On his return to the newly independent Israel, Mr Herzog joined the army and reached the rank of general. He was chief of military intelligence from 1948 to 1950 and again from 1959 to 1962.
Mrs Sara Netanyahu, who attended the funeral with her husband, stood by him in an interview with Ma'ariv saying: "I know my husband was not involved in any deal."