Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the funeral of Britain’s first female Prime Minister, Baroness Thatcher, Wednesday, along with 10 other serving PMs from across the world, two Heads of State and 17 serving Foreign Ministers.
A statement by Netanyahu’s office Wednesday confirmed that despite the leader being in London for the funeral of the former leader he last week heralded as “a staunch friend of Israel and the Jewish people”, as reports confirmed two grad rockets had been fired on the Southern town of Eilat, he had been in close contact with both Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon and Eilat Mayor Yitzhak Halevy to discuss Israel’s response to the attacks, for which a Salafist group claimed early responsibility.
Netanyahu was thought to have attended a reception hosted by British Foreign Secretary William Hague at Mansion House for representatives of foreign states and distinguished foreign VIPs following the full ceremonial funeral to Europe’s first female leader, only the second British leader to have commanded such a tribute, after WWII-era leader Winston Churchill.
More than 2,300 guests were expected to attend the funeral service at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, with over 170 countries being represented by foreign dignitaries including members of Royal Families, serving Presidents, Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers, former PMs and Presidents and Heads of Missions. US President Barack Obama was a notable omission form the high-profile list of attendees as he stayed behind in the US to coordinate the domestic response to Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing.
Issuing a statement on the day of her funeral service, British Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks said his thoughts would be with the former leader, “not the public person but of the private one”, as he paid tribute to her as a woman of ideas, acknowledged even by her critics for “her integrity and courage”.
“In public, her leadership style was more like Moses than Aaron, more conviction and confrontation than compromise and conciliation. But we need both. Aaron was more loved than Moses. The sages said that when Aaron died, everyone mourned, but when Moses died, not everyone did. But without Moses, there would not have been a Jewish people. Sometimes leaders have to be strong at the cost of being divisive, because they see no other way of getting from here to there,” he contended.
“Those who serve their country with dedication and distinction deserve respect in life. How much more so in death. And she did so serve, with all her heart. She loved Britain, and fought for it. She loved responsibility and practised it. She loved freedom and lived for it. She was a fighter all her life. And now in death may her soul find peace,” concluded his official statement.