Hundreds mourned revered Israeli writer and peace advocate Amos Oz yesterday at a funeral where the country’s President hailed him as the nation’s storyteller not afraid to be called a “traitor”.
Crowds lined up at a theatre in Tel Aviv, where Oz’s closed casket lay on the stage ahead of eulogies from speakers including President Reuven Rivlin. In a sign of the widespread appreciation and respect for Oz in Israel, his funeral was broadcast live on television, unusual for a writer.
Family, politicians and average Israelis touched by Oz’s works slowly filed past the black coffin ahead of the ceremony that followed the writer’s death on Friday from cancer at the age of 79.
Mr Rivlin recalled their childhood friendship in Jerusalem, where they were neighbours growing up. “Because your writing was personal and universal, you managed to tell our story far beyond our small Israel,” he said in his eulogy. Oz had the “ability to see things deeply from the inside, but always a bit from the outside”.
“You weren’t afraid to be called a traitor,” Mr Rivlin said, referring to far-right Israelis who criticised his peace activism. “On the contrary, you considered that an honorary title.”
Actor Oded Kotler read out a letter of condolence from Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to the author’s family, drawing applause from the audience.
Read the article in The Australian (AFP).